by: David Charns, Nexstar media cable
Posted: 6/5/2021 / 1:15 PM EDT
Updated: 6/5/2021 / 1:15 PM EDT
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A car crashed through a soon-to-be-opened Las Vegas restaurant on Sunday – and nearly crashed through the wall of an adjacent restaurant before stopping, video shows.
Rochelle Hodge, the restaurant’s owner, says the accident further delayed its opening (originally slated for mid-June), but she’s glad no one was injured.
What began as a typical Sunday turned into something completely different for Hodge, the owner of Twice Baked Gourmet Potatoes. Your store, which has been serving customers elsewhere for years, was due to open its first storefront on June 15th.
Then, on May 30th, a car crashed through the front door. It ended up completely inside the building.
Georgia restaurant owner offers vandals jobs instead of filing complaints
A surveillance video from the restaurant next door, Paulie’s South Street Steaks, shows the car crashing into a wall that the two companies share. Two people at a table by the wall were eating lunch.
Fortunatly nobody was hurt.
Hodges room was still showing signs of the crash on Friday.
“This is where a customer would be sitting,” said Hodge KLAS about a seating area that she wanted to place near the front door. If Twice Baked was open, someone could have sat in the way of the car and been killed.
“I look at everything for a reason because remember, if we were open and our employees and customers were there it would have been a tragedy,” said Hodge.
A car makes it into Twice Baked’s new room and hits a wall between the restaurant and its neighbor. (KLAS)
“I’m so glad it didn’t open because that could easily have killed me,” said Mel Singer, co-owner of Paulie’s. “I’m just glad none of our customers got hurt.”
Surrounded by dust and debris, there is hope in the now boarded up room.
“This is just an acceleration on our path to success,” said Mercedes Fuller, manager of Twice Baked. “That’ll be fine.”
Hodge said she hopes to open her restaurant in August. Its original target date was February 2021, but due to the pandemic and delays in approval, the opening has been postponed to June.
A friend set up a GoFundMe page for Hodge to pay her employees and cover all other emergency expenses. She was insured.
A classic fast food restaurant chain is gearing up for a comeback
Witnesses said the driver and his passenger were fine after the accident. KLAS reached out to Metro Police for more information, but the request was denied. The archive department cited the ongoing investigation as the reason for not disclosing any further details.
