By Roland Sackey
A truck slammed into a Hillcrest shoe store early on the morning of June 27, injuring the driver and causing about $100,000 worth of damage to the building.
Comfort Footwear at 186-06 Union Turnpike has been a fixture in the Hillcrest neighborhood for the past 20 years.
Store owner Ernest Rueda said his brother Steve Rueda had just opened the store when the truck crashed through the front window about 6:15 a.m.
Steve Rueda was in the basement and was not hurt.
Ernest Rueda said the truck jumped the curb, knocked down seven parking meters and destroyed about 25 feet of display case in the store’s front window.
“Steve said the whole thing sounded like an earthquake,” Ernest Rueda said. He estimated the damage to be about $80,000.
The crash caused an additional $20,000 to $30,000 worth of damage to PCCD Associates, a computer service center next to Comfort Footwear, said its manager, David Reisender.
“It appears the truck went out of control, smacked two stores and took down several parking meters and a stop sign,” Reisender said.
The Police Department had no information on the crash or the driver, who was described by Rueda as being in his 20s and receiving cut to his hands.
“It was a good thing that the accident occurred at 6 in the morning or else people would have gotten hurt,” said Victor Gatsoni, who owns a fur store next-door to Comfort Footwear.
Ernest Rueda agreed.
“If this had occurred an hour and 15 minutes later, it could have been a disaster considering the fact that the coffee store next door opens around that time,” he said.
Renovations were already underway in the shoe store, which according to Rueda, was to reopen Tuesday.
Reach contributing writer Roland Sackey by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 162.
