Management and staff of Romeo’s restaurant in Duncan had a rude awakening Thursday morning when they received notification a vehicle had crashed into the front of their eatery.
At approximately 6:45 a.m. on Nov. 24 a southbound green Acura crossed the median and northbound lane of the Trans Canada Highway at Dobson Street, jumping the curb and lawn in front of the restaurant and plowing into one of the entrance columns.
RCMP sergeant Chris Swain said the crash involved two vehicles.
“[They] were both travelling southbound on the TCH. One changed lanes unsafely causing one of the vehicles to go off road,” he said. It was the driver who made the unsafe lane-change that struck the building.
The driver, a 62-year-old female, was taken to hospital by ambulance as a precaution but Swain said he was unaware of any serious injuries. There was “extensive damage” to her vehicle.
Swain said alcohol was not a factor in the accident, but weather conditions were. He was not able to say at this time whether there were any witnesses as the MVI is still under investigation.
The other driver (of a white Chevy van) was not injured, although there was some damage to the vehicle.
Eialeen Ross, who has been a supervisor at Romeo’s for 20 years, said she was very surprised when she got a call from the restaurant’s management that morning.
“I was shocked. Shocked. We’ve been broken into 11 times, so I thought maybe it was another break-in,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t know how fast she would have been going.”
The building inspector came by that morning and gave them the green light to keep the restaurant open because the damaged column does not impede exit from the building in case of an emergency.
Romeo’s has been open in Duncan for 21 years.
