AVONDALE ESTATES, Ga. — Police are looking for the driver of an SUV that careened onto a sidewalk in Avondale Estates, knocking out a tree and lamppost, before crashing into a violin store.
It happened around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday along Avondale Road. Patrick Bryant, the city manager, said the driver ran off, but three women passengers stayed behind. Two of them went to the hospital with minor injuries.
“All three of them appeared to be intoxicated,” Bryant said.
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Police found a tequila bottle, a large amount of marijuana, and two guns – a Draco AK-47 and a Glock handgun – inside the Dodge Durango. Bryant said the four were on their way to Pin Ups, a nearby strip club.
Ashley Thomas owns the Galette bakery next door and was in the story making croissants when she heard something that sounded “horrific.”
“You could hear the squealing of brakes for what felt like forever, but I’m sure it was only a few seconds,” Thomas told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims. “I looked up out our front glass window and happened to see a blur of a car just fly by very quickly.”
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The Durango blasted through patio tables and chairs and umbrellas on the sidewalk.
She told Mims the crash may have caused about $10,000 in damage. The SUV also knocked down a light post and sent it through the air like a spear, where it lodged into the marquee of the Avon Theater.
“I was so thankful to hear that no one was injured in this,” she said. “I think that’s the bright spot in all this. Stuff is stuff and can be replaced.”
The crash happened just after the city completed a major street and sidewalk beautification project.
“Not only that, but it’s the largest project in the city’s history,” Bryant said. “It was a $10 million complete street renovation in partnership with GDOT.” City officials had a ribbon cutting ceremony exactly one week before the crash.
Andrew Henke, the owner of Ronald Sachs Violins, told Channel 2 Action News that his business was a “warzone.”
But he said most of the expensive violins and instruments were on the second floor and were not damaged.
His computer, register, book shelves and other business equipment were heavily damaged or destroyed. Still, he said, he plans to open by next week.
“We’ll repair. These things can be repaired and replaced,” Bryant said. “The damage to the (violin shop) building is significant, the damage to the Avon Theater marquee is significant.”
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