There was pandemonium at the Riverhead Pizza Hut this afternoon when an SUV crashed through the restaurant’s brick and glass entryway just after 4:20 p.m.
Miraculously, no one was seriously injured.
A Nissan Pathfiner southbound on Roanoke Avenue collided with an eastbound PT Cruiser that was already in the circle, then crossed a cement median and hit a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that was waiting to enter the circle in a northbound lane of Roanoke Avenue.
“I didn’t even see where she was coming from,” Bill Zebroski, the driver of the PT Cruiser, said. “All of the sudden I got creamed.”
“It seemed like she hit the gas instead of the brake,” said one eyewitness, the driver of another eastbound vehicle who was stopped at the circle and watched the accident unfold. “It seemed like she sped up after she hit the first car. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
The Pathfinder then crossed the grass in front of the restaurant, bounced off a parked car and careened into the building.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had no idea where she came from,” said Michael Haynia, the driver of the Chevy Silverado that was the second vehicle hit by the Pathfinder.
“I thought it was an explosion,” said one woman who had just entered the restaurant. She had just gotten off of work and had stopped at Pizza Hut to pick up something for dinner for her family, she said. “I had just walked through the door and was approaching the counter where you order your food, when I heard this loud explosion. I thought it was a gas explosion. That’s how loud it was.” She sat in her car outside the restaurant with her daughter. “I’m just all shook up.”
The Pathfinder driver and two customers inside the restaurant were transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center with injuries police said were not life-threatening. It was not immediately known how many people were inside the restaurant at the time of the crash, a police officer on the scene said. Everyone was immediately evacuated, the officer said.
Crowds of people spilled into the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot and along Roanoke Avenue to gape at the scene.
Glass and debris were scattered across the roadway. Pizza Hut’s entryway was demolished by the impact. A pile of bricks and glass surrounded the upended vehicle.
Inside the restaurant, bricks and building debris were scattered at the site of impact. At least one seating booth appeared to be damaged.
Denise Civiletti and Peter Blasl contributed reporting
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl and Katie Blasl
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