Out Of Control Vehicle Causes Chaos, Damage At Short Pump Panera

A man who allegedly had a seizure coming out of the drive through of the Bank of America at the Shoppes at Westgate Thursday morning caused a multi-car accident that knocked out power, downed trees and almost sent a parked car through the front door of Panera Bread. Henrico Police and Fire crews were called […]

July 16, 2009; 2:34 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

A man who allegedly had a seizure coming out of the drive through of the Bank of America at the Shoppes at Westgate Thursday morning caused a multi-car accident that knocked out power, downed trees and almost sent a parked car through the front door of Panera Bread.

Henrico Police and Fire crews were called to the shopping center, at the corner of West Broad Street and Lauderdale Drive, around 9:45 a.m.

Carla Haddaway, who works at the other end of the shopping center at Starbucks, was making a drink for a customer when the power went out. She walked down to the scene and got a detailed account of what happened.

“A man was leaving the bank and he [allegedly] started to have a seizure,” Haddaway said. “He hit a transformer and ran into a parked car at Panera and stopped.”

The parked car that the driver hit, pictured above, was pushed up onto the sidewalk in front of the main entrance to Panera, which was filled with customers during the store’s breakfast rush. Witnesses speculated that the car would have likely crashed through the doorway to Panera if it weren’t for the parked vehicle, possibly resulting in major injuries or even casualties.

Henrico Fire officials would not comment on the incident, which is currently under investigation, other than to say that the individual had a “medical emergency” before losing control of his vehicle in the parking lot, causing the damage and power outage.

There’s no word on the alleged seizure victim’s injuries, whom was taken to an area hospital, nor whether any charges will be filed.

At press time, Dominon Power was still on scene replacing the mangled transformer box, while businesses in the shopping center, including Panera, Starbucks and Bertucci’s, remained without power.

A play-by-play of the wreck can be seen in the video below that we published to our Twitter account from the scene of the accident this morning.

July 16, 2009 2:34 PM 0