A man suffering a medical episode crashed through the entrance of Friendly City Books on Friday afternoon, doing extensive damage to the property but no injuries to the driver or occupants of the store.
According to Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton, the crash happened a little after 1 p.m. Friday.
“Apparently, the gentleman had a medical episode that caused him to lose control of the vehicle,” Shelton said. “The vehicle crashed through the entrance, but there were no injuries caused by the crash.”
Friendly City Books owner Emily Liner said there were no customers in the store at the time of the crash. She was in a back room and did not see the crash, but two other employees were in the building when the car ploughed through the entrance.
“It came through the main entrance at an angle and went into the children’s area,” Liner said.
“Chris Chain, who did the renovation of the building before we opened, showed up within 15 minutes with his crew. They’re working on it right now.”
Liner, along with other downtown vendors, were busy preparing for the weekend’s Market Street Festival. Now, the store will be closed until repairs are complete.
“The good news is that it doesn’t appear there was any major structural damage,” Liner said. “We’ll just have to go day-by-day and see when we can open up again.”
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