Cell phone video inside Panera Bread in North Andover captured the moments after the driver of a Cadillac Escalade slammed right through the front entrance.
“I heard a yell behind me,” said State Senator Diana DiZoglio, who was in the parking lot and about to go into the restaurant.
“Right after the yell there were screeching tires and an SUV bolted out of the parking spot that it was in,” she said.
The 78-year-old driver and her companion had just been shopping at Ace Hardware, when witnesses say she was trying to leave the parking lot.
“I began chasing after the vehicle and yelling for the vehicle to stop,” said DiZoglio.
The driver hit one car which hit another car before the Escalade crashed into the restaurant.
“And we heard a huge thud,” said Alexandra Bonugli, who works at Supercuts next door. “We were like ‘what the heck was that’, and we went out to see what happened.”
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Several people from the businesses in the shopping plaza ran to the scene to make sure everyone was ok.
Nobody was hurt, including the driver.
“In shock is what she was,” said Stephen Foucher, who works next door at Den Rock Wines & Spirits. “Not even a scratch on her.”
Five workers and a customer were inside Panera at the time.
Witnesses say this could have ended in disaster.
“It could have been definitely multiple fatalities today,” said Faucher. “It was pretty bad.”
Leon Kayserian was working at his tailoring shop and saw the crash take place.
He says his business could have been demolished.
“I’m so lucky,” said Kayserian. “Thank God.”
