Four people were injured — but not serious enough to require hospitalization — in the crash at Lopez Village Market, Nov. 2.
Sheriff Bill Cumming said injuries included cuts caused by glass, and muscle strain. One person needed stitches on a knee. The driver of the vehicle was taken to Lopez Island Medical Clinic to be checked out and was released.
A Volvo SUV jumped the curb and crashed into the market on Weeks Road during the noon lunch hour. The vehicle drove into the deli and, according to witnesses, stopped after it hit the checkout counter.
“Nobody saw it coming,” a market employee working at the deli counter said. “We heard this crazy, crashing sound and saw the car coming through the window. The glass was breaking as the car was coming through. It seemed to take a long time. It was very surreal.”
Witnesses said the SUV came into the parking space at an angle and the driver may have hit the gas pedal instead of the brakes. The vehicle went through the glass doors and into the deli, stopping short of the pastry case. The impact moved the deli case a foot.
The deli bar was “swung around the room” by the impact, pushing people toward the fireplace, according to Cathi Brewer of The Islands’ Weekly. “No employees were injured and the fire department responded very quickly.”
Brewer said at least three fire trucks, two sheriff’s deputies, one EMT vehicle, one ambulance, and the fire marshal went to the scene.
Within two hours, the car was removed from the building, employees were getting the deli straightened out and the market was back open for business, Brewer said.
Lopez Village Market moved from Village Road to Weeks Road in April. It has been owned by the Carpenter family since 1959.