A car smashed through the front doors and into East Hampton Market on Race Lane in East Hampton Village on Friday afternoon. Several people were taken by ambulance to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital with minor injuries. No one was seriously hurt.
“We got a call that a vehicle had driven into a building, and upon arrival that’s exactly what we found,” East Hampton Fire Department Chief Gerry Turza said. He explained that a car driven by an older man had blasted through the doorway and come to rest about 25 feet inside the store. It struck a portion of a checkout counter and a refrigerated display case, knocking it a few feet from its base and damaging refrigeration lines.
The East Hampton Fire Department responded with two engines, a heavy rescue truck, and its tower truck. Fire police were called to assist East Hampton Village police with controlling traffic in the area.
One of the victims, Olivia Brooks, said that she had been shopping for her first time at East Hampton Marketplace and was in line to pay, talking to a friend ahead of her, when she heard banging and saw glass flying. “A car was coming right at me and another man in the aisle,” she said.
Ms. Brooks was bruised and had a bit of bleeding and swelling on her leg, she said. She said that she thought something must have hit her as she moved out of the car’s path “as quickly as a 69-year-old woman can,” she recalled with a chuckle.
She first checked on the man beside her, who ended up in a sitting position with his legs out in front of him, then called out to her friend, who came from the back of the store to help her. “Someone yelled, ‘Everyone out,’” Ms. Brooks said. She was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in an ambulance and treated for her injuries.
The driver, who had been in the car with a woman passenger, sat outside the building after the accident. “They were stunned,” Ms. Brooks said. "I hope they’re okay. I really do. They were sitting there so stoically.”
Ms. Brooks said first responders and police arrived quckly. “I felt so very badly for the manager of that store. It was so well stocked and beautifully laid out. If it hadn’t had been for the space of that gigantic inner aisle, I think there would have been a more serious accident. It could have been so tragic. Just by the grace of God it didn’t happen that way.”
The store remained closed indefinitely on Sunday.