NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) -- Authorities in Newark are looking for the driver of a carjacked vehicle who struck a bar and residential building on Saturday night.
Not only were multiple families displaced, but a bar on the first floor of this building was ripped into pieces by the collision that also sent at least two people to the hospital.
Paul Dietrich woke up Sunday morning to his “cozy corner” in Newark destroyed. Police said a stolen vehicle smashed into the building and pinned two people. The car had also caught on fire.
“I am a little numbed,” he said.
According to authorities, a female in critical condition and a man in stable condition were taken to University Hospital. The driver fled the scene and remains at large.
“I just know three people were hurt. The other one I don’t know; one is a regular, and one is an employee," a witness told PIX11 News.
One of the witnesses to the accident said the guy was coming down South Orange Ave allegedly doing at least 40 miles an hour, and he said, "he just swerved and just ran right into the bar.”
The building is also a residential building. The Red Cross assisted tenants from all four apartments after they were evacuated.
“They made everybody leave last night, just in case the building was going to come down,” said Dietrich, who has owned this social spot and building for almost 20 years. “This is probably the worst one, but it is not the first one.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that something similar has happened to his property on South 12th Street and South Orange Ave.
“Before I bought it, the building was hit at least five or six times. And then, since I’ve had it, it has probably been hit as many times,” Dietrich said.
Paul said he was grateful that no one had died. But that dealing with his insurance for property damage will be a headache. He hopes that Newark places protective metal barriers on this corner to prevent another incident like this in the future, or even worse—a fatality.
“Most of the times is always a stolen, usually is a stolen car that either hit the building or caused the accident to cause the car to hit the building,” Paul said.
There is an active investigation into this issue.
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