Before a night of baking, Bloomington Bagel Company employee, Tyler Brown, likes to sit outside the restaurant and smoke a cigarette.
He said he was doing just that at around 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, when a car barreled over the curb of Dunn Street and smashed into the restaurant’s wall.
The air bags were deployed, and Brown said he heard the passengers screaming. As he rushed to open the side door, someone ran from People’s Park to open the driver’s side.
Brown said he was shocked to pull out a baby’s car seat that had not been strapped into the car. He guessed the little boy in his arms was around 1 1/2 years old.
Capt. Rob Sears of the Bloomington Fire Department said the woman had been driving with four young children.
While Brown moved away from the gray Ford sedan to make sure the child was all right, he said the other passengers exited the vehicle, all seemingly fine.
Brown said he believed the passengers were all uninjured, aside from a rumor that one of the children had lost a few teeth.
The woman and the children were taken to the hospital after an ambulance arrived on the scene. A fire truck and a police car were also present.
Sears said it seemed the driver mistook the gas pedal for the brake.
Once the car was removed from the restaurant, a hole, approximately 6 feet wide and 2 feet tall, was left.
As Sue Aquila swept the glass from the floor of the business she’s owned for nearly 20 years, she said she was simply relieved that no one was seriously injured.
“We’re still opening tomorrow,” she said. “People need their bagels. You want to see real violence, take away people’s bagels.”
A company will come from Bedford, Indiana, to clean out the window’s glass before the restaurant’s 6 a.m. opening. Caution tape blocked off the damaged section of the restaurant and Brown set about beginning his shift. After what he called a near-death experience, he’ll be making bagels until around 5 a.m.
“I definitely know now that euphoria comes from adrenaline,” he said. “And still being alive.”
Aquila said this isn’t the first time her restaurant has faced difficulties. When the city was building an extension of Jordan River and a giant trench was built in front of her restaurant, customers walked across small wooden bridges to get their bagels. When people protested the business because Aquila is gay, she said the outpouring of support from the Bloomington community amazed her.
“I’m so grateful for this community,” she said. “For going on 20 years, Bloomington has always been there for this business and I hope the community feels we do the same for it.”
