A ninety-year-old driver cheated death after his vehicle ploughed into a popular California coffee shop at tremendous speed during a dramatic Thanksgiving evening collision that left the business in ruins.
Thanksgiving Night Terror
The shocking incident occurred shortly after 9pm on Thanksgiving at the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company in Los Gatos, California. Surveillance footage captured the moment the elderly driver's Volvo hurtled through a red traffic light before smashing directly into the storefront with a deafening bang.
The vehicle was travelling through a 20mph zone at what witnesses estimated to be between 70 and 100 miles per hour. Dramatic CCTV shows the car narrowly avoiding another vehicle that crossed the intersection mere seconds before the catastrophic impact.
Miraculous Escape and Extensive Damage
Emergency services rushed to the scene after a bystander on the sidewalk immediately pulled out his phone, presumably to dial 911. The Santa Clara County Fire Department had to extricate the nonagenarian driver from his wrecked vehicle.
The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department confirmed the driver was hospitalised in "serious but stable condition" and indicated that alcohol might have contributed to the crash. Fortunately, the coffee shop was closed and unoccupied at the time, with the elderly man being the vehicle's sole occupant.
Social media footage later showed the extensive recovery operation as the Volvo was pulled from the devastated building. The scene was littered with broken glass, shattered bricks and splintered wood covering the sidewalk outside the business.
Business Owners Devastated by Destruction
Co-owners Teri Hope and Dylan Phillips expressed their devastation at the comprehensive damage to their establishment. Phillips revealed to CBS that the vehicle penetrated between 20 to 30 feet deep into the building, completely destroying everything on the café side.
"Our coffee roaster took damage," Phillips stated. "There's probably nothing salvageable on the café side. Plumbing was broken, leaking into our basement. Lots of our inventory destroyed."
Both owners acknowledged the silver lining that the crash happened outside operating hours. Phillips reflected that on a normal Thursday evening, they would have hosted 30 to 40 customers enjoying live music, potentially turning the incident into a "major disaster."
The police investigation continues as authorities examine all factors surrounding the alarming collision. No further details about the driver's condition or identity have been released at this time.
