Vegas Restaurant Crash: 10 Injured, Teen Driver Arrested
A Vegas restaurant crash left 10 people injured and the driver in custody after he plowed through a restaurant's patio during lunch hour. The driver, Gage Lindsey, is currently being held on DUI charges, as well as reckless driving and several hit and run counts.
Lindsey was behind the wheel when his vehicle crossed the median, hit two other vehicles, and then ran through the restaurant. The Lexus sedan crashed through the patio area before coming to rest just inside the restaurant's plate glass window. Lindsey and his passenger, David Roldan, were not injured in the accident and attempted to flee the scene.
Diners and eyewitnesses chased the men down and stayed on them until police arrived to take them into custody. Unfortunately, several of the diners were not so fortunate and were seriously injured in the crash.
"I screamed, 'A car's coming!' and it exploded through the window," Suziliene McDonald told the Associated Press. "The motor was still revving and the dust came right after it, just like in the movies."
"A woman was on her stomach … The only reason that car did not fall down on her was there was a chair that was kind of jacked up, holding it and a portion of if, but it was on her, too," McDonald later told NBC. The woman's son was also stuck beneath the car.
Firefighters had to extract a total of four people from underneath the Lexus; they were taken to nearby hospitals. Several other people, including one worker who was forced all the way back to the kitchen from the force, were also injured. Customers were treated for cuts from the shattered glass, and one woman had a broken leg.
The incident could have been much worse, though. Manager Sarah Gehringer said the restaurant may have had up to 150 people inside and on the patio before the crash, given the time.
"As serious as it was, we are amazed there were no fatalities," Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski told The Las Vegas Review Journal.