A Swensons Drive-In Restaurant in West Akron suffered significant damage early yesterday morning when a vehicle plowed into the building just minutes after closing. The crash resulted in minor injuries to an 18-year-old male employee and the driver, a 30-year-old woman, Cleveland19 reported. According to Akron police, the unnamed woman is facing several charges, including failure to control and admitted to speeding at the time of the incident.
To quickly uplift community spirits and persistently serve their customers, Swensons announced it would operate a food truck from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily at the site until the main structure is deemed ready to reopen. An official from Swensons was quoted on Facebook saying, "It was a tough day, but our team rallied together, took care of each other and our community supported us all the way through," according to a cleveland.com article. The company assured no major injuries from the collision and looked forward to serving their patrons with some "Galley Boys," a favored menu item.
Following the accident, the restaurant's location on South Hawkins Avenue was closed on Sunday, but plans to provide service via the food truck were set to begin on the following Monday. WKYC contacted the Akron Police Department for more details on the crash but has yet to receive additional information.
Captain Michael Miller of the Akron Police Department remarked on the crash, "I believe the victim there is an employee, an 18-year-old male. He was shaken up, and injured as a result of that crash. It could have been worse. I’m pretty sure it’s jarring for the employees when you look at the damage there and consider how much worse it could have been," he told Cleveland19. As the investigation is ongoing, the community and Swensons are pulling together to recover from the shock of the event and maintain a semblance of normalcy amid the disruption.
