More than a month and a half after an SUV ripped through the front wall and counter of the CVS Drugstore on Sheepshead Bay Road, repairs are finally being made to the storefront.
A worker on the scene said the windows and wall should be completed by the end of the day.
On June 12, the driver of a black Mercedes SUV rammed through the wall. News reports of the incident said the driver was attempting to navigate out of a parking spot when his tire got stuck between a telephone pole and a bike chained to it. He then reversed too quickly, lost control and caused the accident.
No one in the store was hurt.
We reported on Saturday about the black Mercedes SUV that smashed through Sheepshead Bay Road’s CVS storefront, injuring nine. Surprisingly, no one was seriously hurt, but many were left puzzled about how a car could’ve ended up perpendicular, backing up into the store’s wall.
Well, some of the news reports indicate the driver was an elderly man attempting to navigate out of a parking spot. According to WPIX News (Channel 11), his tire got stuck between a telephone pole and a bike chained to it. He put the car in reverse and “lost control,” and plowed through the CVS. News 12 said he hit the telephone pole, “ricocheted” off a bike (?!), and landed in the CVS.
Now we get an employee’s account (and photos!). On the AccuWeather.com forums, an employee who was not working that day wrapped up pretty much everything we already know. But he added some inside information: employees were told the elderly driver went into diabetic shock. Now it starts to make more sense.
As for the store – they cleaned up and went back to business that evening. They have wooden boards up over the hole, and we’re predicting corporate will have it lookin’ brand new in two weeks or less. Anyone else want to hazard a guess?
View more photos of the accident
UPDATE (3:28 p.m.): We just heard a little more from the reader. Here’s what he wrote:
I do not think anybody got hurt, not sure what happened to the driver, and initially I thought it was an explosion. It sounded like a bomb going off. There were a couple of cashiers in front but no serious injury, one cashier had a scratch on his arm but nothing major and ambulance was still checking him out. People did not scream but everyone was freaked out, saw a bunch of women in tears, people panicked, ran from the front to the back.
Original story:
Apparently the driver of a black Mercedes SUV felt the CVS Drugstore at Sheepshead Bay Road and East 14th street needed a drive through. At around 2:00 p.m. today, the car crashed through the wall facing Sheepshead Bay Road, landing right where the registers are. A reader who was shopping inside at the time sent in these photos. We don’t know if anyone was hurt, and we sincerely hope no one was. We’ll update with more information as we receive it.
Like a deer caught in the headlights, this CVS store shopping cart running away from home (1402 Sheepshead Bay Rd) after dark, nearly crashed into the fence when the traffic came up suddenly on it. Still, it kept its wits about itself and managed to hold onto the green-leaf cargo.
Well, gotta admit, the speeding traffic coming off that curving road at the intersection of Sheepshead Bay Road and Shore Parkway does take even the pedestrians for a spin.
When I first saw them stuck into the soil in this big potted plant at the CVS store parking lot on East 14 Street (1402 Sheepshead Bay Road), I questioned what was I seeing. “What are those things near those little flowers?” From far away, it was clear to see that it was a warning sign and an advertisement for passport pictures. Still, the size of those things was preventing us from finding the word for their smaller counterparts.
Later — thanks to Louis, manager at Tamilio Nursery (3025 Avenue U) — we were finally reminded of words for those things you stick into potted plants to identify them. “Plant tags or plant labels,” is what he said, even offering to give me one as a sample. Of course, how could we have thought they were plant signs? Of course, they’re garden markers. What else could they be?
Plant identification and care labels sure have come a long way. But, it looks like CVS might have given these ones the wrong prescription!
(Plant tag photo courtesy of Intermountain Native Plant Growers Association – INPGA)
