Search On For Driver Who Crashed Into Store

A car crashes into a convenience store and it's caught on tape.  The driver immediately sped out of the parking lot, without checking to see if he'd hurt anyone.  The News On 6's crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports the car crashed through the front glass at 8 o'clock Friday night while the store was full of employees and customers.

They don't know if the driver was drunk or if he accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake, but they do know he didn't care who was affected.

Video from the store shows employees and customers, including a little boy at the counter, as the driver shoots into the store in the 2200 block of North Harvard.  He throws glass and newspaper stands everywhere and slams into the counter.  The driver then throws the car into reverse, heads out of the store and leaves the parking lot, not even stopping at the stoplight on Harvard.

"He did not even stop, as you can see.  We tried to run out there, get his tag number.  He just took off like a jumbo jet, didn't even care for it.  It was heartbreaking," said store owner Max Ayub.

Max has nearly two dozen cameras in the store and six of them caught the crash.  He says customers often stand by the newspaper stands reading, so it was lucky no one was there, because they could easily have been killed.  Plus, the crash happened at the busiest time on the busiest night of the week.

"He should've stopped right there, even if he has driver's license, doesn't have driver's license, had insurance, borrowed car, whatever the reason was, all can be solved, but what cannot be solved is what he did.  That's crime," said store owner Max Ayub.

The car is a Mercury Cougar with a tag number of QDR 416.

Max understands the crash was probably an accident, he knows that sort of thing happens, but what happened after the crash was done on purpose.

"The second part, we didn't understand. He should've stopped to see if he was okay, first, himself, then that everybody else okay. Property can be replaced, but human life cannot be replaced.  That's what we didn't understand," said Max Ayub.

Max hopes someone turns in the driver of the Cougar, so he can be forced to be accountable for his actions, including paying for the damage.

Anyone with information about the crash can call Crimestoppers at 596-COPS.