Vehicles plow into Oregon business early Sunday afternoon – Shaw Local

Oregon — No one was hurt when a car was hit by another vehicle at a nearby busy intersection Sunday afternoon before plowing into a downtown restaurant.

Oregon State Police Chief Joe Brooks said the crash occurred at 12:50 p.m. when a southbound vehicle on Illinois Route 2 (4th Street) failed to stop at the intersection with Illinois Route 64 (Washington Street) , crashed into a westbound SUV.

“The southbound driver ran a red light and hit the westbound vehicle, causing the driver to lose control and crash into the building,” Brooks said.

After being hit, the SUV drove across the sidewalk and through the glass garage doors into the south side of the Ogle County brewery, shattering part of the glass in the dining area and hitting some chairs and tables.

Kim M. Risley, 70, of Rockford, was ticketed for violating a traffic control device, Brooks said.

Katie Gatton, a brewery employee who was behind the bar at the time of the accident, said there were about 10 people in the restaurant at the time, but customers were seated near the bar, a few feet away from the raised garage door during summer mealtime.

“Thank goodness no one was close enough to the door or they would have been hit by cars and flying glass,” Garton said. “We were able to call 911 and it looked like the police and paramedics were there almost immediately. We wanted to make sure the driver wasn’t hurt. Thankfully, they weren’t hurt and no customers were hurt.”

The impact caused part of the large garage door to press against the top of the SUV, prompting Oregon firefighters to secure the door after the driver got out.

Garton said the accident happened quickly.

“I was behind the bar and I was just backing away, and some of our guests were backing away, trying to figure out where to go. We just wanted everyone to get away and see how far this car could go. In that case It was a little difficult, everything happened so quickly,” Garton said.

After the SUV pulled out of the dining area, firefighters and one of the building’s owners, Mark Gale of Wiggale Inc in Oregon, began trying to figure out how to remove the damaged door.

“It took a while,” said Oregon State Fire Chief Mike Knoup. “Garage doors are dangerous with their heavy springs, and this one went completely off track. It had to be disassembled piece by piece.”

Fire crews remained on scene until 3.30pm

Gail said his friend Justin Lehman came to help him and his son Dan break open the door.

“Justin was able to eliminate some twisting because he had experience with garage doors. We took all the window panes out and pulled them piece by piece,” says Gale.

The business is closed on Mondays and may change hours while repairs are being made.

“It’s going to be beautiful again,” Gail said. “But it may take a while. We’ll be doing some temporary repairs to make sure everything is safe.”

Gail thanked everyone who helped after the accident.

“There were a lot of people jumping in to help … the firefighters, the police … I’m very thankful that no one was hurt,” he said.