An SUV slammed into an ice cream shop in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Friday afternoon, leaving behind significant damage to the building.
The Gloucester Fire Department said they were called to the crash at Carl's Cones on Washington Street around 12:30 p.m. No one was inside the building at the time, but the driver was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. She is expected to be OK.
"All of a sudden, I heard the screech of the tires," said Judy Howland, who lives right across the street. "Oh my God, I can't believe somebody just ran into the ice cream shop."
Many people who live in the neighborhood ran outside to see what had happened.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
"I heard the smash, and then it was like a 'thump' feel, and the reverberation actually shook the house slightly," said Jacqueline Roulet, who lives next door to the shop.
The owners of Carl's had made a last-minute decision in the morning to open up at 2 p.m. instead of at noon because of the rainy weather, preventing anyone from being inside at the time.
"We will rebuild," said Rhonda Goulart, whose son and daughter-in-law own the ice cream shop.
Local
She says if it had been a sunny day, and Carl's Cones had opened at its normal hour, the shop may have been packed. It could have been catastrophic.
"There's a picnic bench that's there," said Goulart. "There's always kids there."
Multiple witnesses tended to the driver, telling NBC10 Boston she was alert but dazed.
A dog in the car appeared to be fine.
The city's assistant building commissioner, who was at the scene, says there's an apartment upstairs, and the tenants and the ice cream shop owners won't be able to get back inside until the building is structurally sound.
Crews spent hours trying to clean up the mess and board up the broken doors and windows.
The ice cream shop hopes to reopen by next weekend.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
