PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Big Apple Pizza store along St. Lucie Boulevard in Port St. Lucie had to shut down early on New Year’s Eve after a car slammed through the door and windows causing quite a bit of damage.
It happened just after 3 p.m. and employees say the only other customer in the restaurant was supposed to be meeting the driver for a bite to eat when moments later the incident happened.
Port St. Lucie police say it was an accidental incident and the driver, a middle aged woman, will not face any charges.
“We had one person in the corner over here which was not the side that the car came in, so thank God, if the car came in an hour earlier we had three families sitting right here,” said employee Keith Brenner.
Brenner and the other Big Apple employees working at the time describe hearing a loud bang before thinking the roof of the building had collapsed. It only took seconds for them to look towards the front of the store and see a white BMW sitting in the dining room.
“Everything was smashed, there was glass everywhere,” said Brenner.
Luckily, no one inside at the time was hurt. The driver was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation but was released shortly after without any physical injuries.
The store had to cancel its remaining orders for New Year's Eve, which is typically a busy night for them. They cleaned up the mess and were back open by 11 a.m. New Year’s Day.
The Storefront Safety Council recently named Florida as leading the nation for store front crashes, even beating out California which is said to have more licensed drivers than Florida.
