Father, son escaped unharmed when car slams into Eutaw Center business.
A father and son escaped serious injury Wednesday when a Chevrolet Corvette plowed through the front entrance of Robertson’s Sandwiches in Eutaw Shopping Center on Bragg Boulevard while they were inside.
It happened at 5:03 p.m., said Fayetteville police Officer P. Delgado.
The driver, John D. Vaughn, 78, of Merrimac Drive in Fayetteville, was attempting to park outside the restaurant when he apparently stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, Delgado said.
The blue Corvette crashed into a support column outside the restaurant before plunging through the front glass and ripping out the brick wall underneath.
Frank Fernandez, owner of the sandwich shop, was closing for the day when he heard a crash, looked and saw the Corvette coming toward the front of the business.
“We were about to close and I heard a crash,” Fernandez said. “I saw the car lunge, then it stopped, then it lunged again through the window.”
The car continued moving forward toward the middle of the business.
As Fernandez watched, he had but one thought, he said: to get his son, Paxxon, 8, out of the way. Fernandez jumped across tables to get to his son, who was in the middle of the diner, getting his things together to go home.
Fernandez said he grabbed Paxxon and dragged him out of the vehicle’s path as it lunged forward and stopped about a foot away from them. Paxxon was pinned between the food counter and the wheel well of the car.
Fernandez pulled his son free.
Miraculously, both suffered only cuts and bruises and were treated at the scene.
Vaughn suffered a cut on his forehead and was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, Delgado said.
The Corvette was pulled from the building onto a flatbed wrecker as curious onlookers, firefighters and police watched.
The business will be closed until repairs are made, said Cam Stout of Stout Properties Inc., owner of the shopping center.
“It looks worse than it is,” Stout said. “He should be open next week.”
Staff writer Nancy McCleary can be reached at nmccleary@fayobserver.com or 486-3568.