A vehicle veered off the roadway and crashed into a Caribbean restaurant located along Baltimore Avenue early Monday, causing a fire that destroyed the eatery. NBC10’s Katy Zachry is at the scene.
Caribbean Cuisine has served the Southwest Philadelphia community for more than 25 years, but, on Monday morning a driver, who told police they lost control of their vehicle, slammed into the eatery and caused a devastating fire.
According to police, the incident happened just before 2:30 a.m. when a vehicle slammed into Caribbean Cuisine, near the intersection of Baltimore Avenue and South 61st Street after the driver lost control of it.
Officers at the scene told NBC10 the driver of that vehicle, who refused medical treatment after the crash, told police that they were unable to control the vehicle after moving out of the way of a vehicle that was coming up quickly behind them.
The crash, officials said, started a fire that tore through the restaurant.
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The couple that owns the business spoke to NBC10's Katy Zachry, saying they were heartbroken about the incident, but relieved that it didn't happen when customers were in the building.
"We're thankful that it wasn't the daytime when we were operating, customers were inside or anything like that," said Kadie Ann Treasure, co-owner of the business. "It's material stuff."
Baltimore Avenue through that area was closed for several hours as crews worked to clean up the damage.
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Asked what might be next for the restaurant, the owners said that they are going to assess the damage and they hope to rebuild.
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