Apparently one needn’t be driving, riding in or even remotely thinking about operating a motor vehicle to be involved in a traffic accident. As a Baltimore automobile accident and injury lawyer, I have heard about some rather interesting car collisions in my time. From single-car wrecks and auto-pedestrian collisions to multiple-vehicle crashes and commercial trucking accidents, Maryland residents are hurt or killed on a surprisingly regular basis on and near our public roadways.
In what could be described as an automobile-restaurant collision, three individuals where hurt and a commercial eatery put temporarily out of business when a motorist apparently lost control of her sport utility vehicle in the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center parking lot and drove straight into the front of a local Vietnamese restaurant in Beltsville, MD.
News reports indicated that a number of customers and restaurant staff were inside the PHO 88 restaurant around half past noon when woman drove her Honda Pilot through the brick and glass storefront of the eatery. According to police reports, three male patrons, reportedly in their 30s, received minor injuries in the crash. The two ladies in the Honda were not injured, according to authorities.
Emergency crews from Prince George’s County Fire and EMS responded to the scene following the accident. Responders rendered first aid to the injured men and then transported them to a local hospital for additional treatment and observation. The restaurant itself reportedly sustained significant damage and the local building inspector declared it uninhabitable until the damage could be repaired.
3 injured when car hits restaurant, WashingtonPost.com, June 25, 2010