Owner Julie Muise knows exactly what time someone drove through one of the business’s car bay doors because she had to review the surveillance video afterwards with RCMP officers.
“I was in the showroom when I heard the crash,” she said.
“I saw my car mechanic standing there in shock and the rest of my guys were coming. The car was still there and the driver looked at us, then put it in reverse and blasted out of there. I started saying a lot of not-so-nice words and my car mechanic went after him yelling for him to stop,” she said.
The driver continued about a kilometre south and then smashed into a house.
“I don’t think he knew where he was. He ended up in their living room. I heard there was a woman at home,” said Muise.
West Pubnico Volunteer Fire Department Chief Gordon Amiro said the station responded to the incident with their pumper truck, a rescue truck and a first responder truck.
“It was just a precaution,” he said.
Amiro says he never saw the driver when they arrived, as paramedics had already carried him to the ambulance.
“The house, it took the bay window off,” he said.
Muise says she’s grateful no one appears to have been hurt when the vehicle crashed through the car bay door.
“The only thing that stopped him was the car that we were working on. He smashed into that. It was in park, thank the Lord, because usually when you’re working on a car you put it in neutral. It moved it ahead almost two feet. It’s a good thing my mechanic wasn’t working on the rear, on the tires, brakes, exhaust or even in front because it could have pushed him. Usually we have people hanging around here just talking. I can’t believe it happened at a time when there was nobody in his path,” she said.
Four RCMP cruisers responded to the call.
Cpl. Mark Hustins, with the Yarmouth rural detachment, says the matter is under investigation and that the driver was transported to hospital with unknown injuries. He said alcohol was believed to be a factor.
According to the RCMP, the driver was said by several bystanders to be a resident of East Pubnico. Charges are pending.