Jeep hits store in Parker; driver injured
PARKER — A man was injured early Monday when he lost control of his Jeep, smashed through two Jersey barriers and crashed into the side of a grocery store in this Armstrong County city along the banks of the Allegheny River, authorities said.
A medical helicopter flew the man, whose name was not released, to a Pittsburgh hospital with unknown injuries after the crash about 2 a.m. at Welter's Country Market on North River Avenue.
State police are investigating, and an accident report was not immediately available. The store, which was badly damaged, was closed at the time.
The driver, believed to be in his 50s, was traveling toward Parker across the Route 368 bridge when he crossed over North River Avenue, also known as Route 268, and “kept on going,” said Rick Amsler, assistant chief of the Parker Volunteer Fire Department.
“Long story short,” said store owner Tim Welter Jr., “it plowed right into the side of the building.”
But before hitting the cement block, brick building, the Jeep traveled through the pair of Jersey barriers.
Amsler said it appeared that the left front of the vehicle hit and traveled up the barriers.
“The Jeep landed on the passenger side,” he noted, “with the bottom of the vehicle up against the side of the building.”
Those concrete barriers, Welter said, had been placed there to prevent runaway vehicles from hitting the store. They didn't work as he hoped, he acknowledged, but the vehicle didn't penetrate the building.
Still, the crash did damage merchandise and property inside.
“The force of the impact flipped the pop cooler over,” Welter said, “and smashed all the buggies.”Asked about the extent of the damage to the building, he quipped, “About a Jeep's worth.”Amsler described the exterior damage as “significant.”The driver was trapped in the Jeep when emergency crews arrived. He was injured but conscious and talking.“He told us, 'Get me out of here. Get me out of here,'” Amsler said.Firefighters cut off the roof of the vehicle to get him out. The Jeep was totaled in the crash.Emlenton Ambulance medics tended to the man before he was taken to nearby Phillips Municipal Park, where a helicopter landed and transported him to the unknown hospital. His condition was not available.Welter said he first learned what happened from tenants at three apartments above the store on the other side of the building from where the crash happened.Amsler said he did not know what caused the wreck, noting that the roads were wet but not icy.“I don't think weather conditions were a factor,” he said.Despite the damage to the building, Welter's store, a fixture in Parker, opened as usual at 7 a.m. Monday. He's owned it for three years.“I ain't going to cry over spilt milk,” he said, “or pop.”
