It doesn’t appear that anyone is injured after a vehicle crashed into a local Subway restaurant Saturday evening.
According to Jacksonville Police reports, a multi-vehicle accident near the corner of West Morton Avenue and Lincoln Square Shopping Center resulted in one of the vehicles crashing into the main lobby area of the Subway located at 948 West Morton.
Authorities say that 41-year old Didier Ngangu, of Gardendale Drive in Jacksonville, was the driver of the vehicle that crashed into the restaurant.
Jacksonville Police Lieutenant Chris Johnson breaks down what occurred during the course of the incident.
“Saturday night at approximately 6:45 p.m., there was a vehicle that was westbound on West Morton near the intersection of Lincoln Square. The traffic exiting Lincoln Square had the green light. Traffic exited onto West Morton, the driver of unit one failed to stop at the red light on West Morton Avenue, striking the vehicle that was turning onto West Morton. As a result of that, the first vehicle sort of caromed, the driver, for whatever reason, went off of West Morton and entered the parking lot of the Subway restaurant, striking the building,” says Johnson.
Johnson says that, based on reports from the night of the crash, it does not appear that anyone was injured. He says Jacksonville Police have yet to receive any information regarding an estimate for the total damage incurred as a result of the accident.
Johnson says that Ngangu was not found to be driving impaired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Lieutenant also offers a theory as to what may have caused the crash.
“It does not appear that (the driver) was impaired by any substance, alcohol, drugs or otherwise. It just seems like (the driver) may have panicked after the accident, and it’s happened quite frequently where somebody may intend to hit the breaks and hit the gas instead, so that’s what we’re believing happened at this incident. The initial impact and the impact into the building was such a large distance away from each other, that’s the only thing we can theorize and say, ‘this is probably what happened,'” Johnson says.
Ngangu was issued a citation as a result of the incident. The Subway restaurant on Morton is currently boarded up and it is unclear at this time when the restaurant may be back in service.