Car crashes into Dairy Queen in Washington

WASHINGTON, Pa. — A car crashed into a Dairy Queen in Washington on Monday afternoon.

According to a Washington County 911 supervisor, emergency crews were called to the Dairy Queen along E. Wylie Avenue at 4:01 p.m.

PHOTOS: Car crashes into Dairy Queen in Washington

Cake maker Joyce Caldwell was inside that stock room getting ice cream for her cake when she heard the crash. The SUV slammed straight through the thick, brick wall of the stock room where she was.

“It was scary,” Caldwell said. “I heard this bang, and I looked and the bread rack was coming at me and it was all twisted. Boxes were coming at me and dust was coming at me. I jumped back behind the table, and I saw there was a car in the wall.”

The car stopped just about four feet from where she and a co-worker were standing, nearly missing the two.

“We were very close to being hit,” said Alexia Caldwell, a cake decorator at DQ. “I mean, we were just very lucky we weren’t any closer.”

Joyce Caldwell quickly ran over to the woman trapped inside to try and calm her down.

“I was worried because there were bricks on top of her roof,” said Joyce Caldwell. “There were bricks, shattered her windshield and so I thought at least I could talk to her.”

First responders arrived within minutes, pulling the woman out.

Police said she only had minor injuries and didn’t want to go to the hospital.

Supervisor Autumn Herbstsomer was talking to the driver after the crash. She said the 84-year-old woman mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake, busting halfway through the shop.

“I was just talking to her because I think she was crying and she felt really bad,” Herbstsomer said. “She was just very concerned about everybody else.”

DQ workers are grateful no one was hurt.

The cleanup started almost immediately. A few hours after the crash, crews were boarding up the gaping hole.

The shop’s owner told Channel 11 the damages will be covered by the woman’s insurance. He added that the shop should be back open in a couple of days.

Washington County police are investigating what led up to the crash.

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