DRIVE THRU GROCERY STORE? 2012
The woman who crashed into the Publix on Belle Terre Parkway was charged with careless driving Tuesday as the Florida Highway Patrol released a video showing her car shattering glass doors as it crashed into the supermarket and plowed through shoppers."When you see the video you realize it's a miracle no one got killed," FHP Capt. Jerry Crews said.Ten Palm Coast residents were injured when 76-year-old Thelma Wagenhoffer's 2004 Toyota Camry "accelerated rapidly as it crossed the parking lot" and crashed into the Publix, the FHP said.The car careened through the store for 40 to 50 feet -- at least, Crews said.Wagenhoffer, who lives in Palm Coast, will have to appear in court because of the seriousness of the injuries to the people in the store, Crews said. Wagenhoffer was not injured and FHP did not find any mechanical problems with the Toyota that could have caused the crash.Three of the injured remained hospitalized on Tuesday. Lupo Mario Hernandez, 83, who was pinned beneath the car, remained in serious condition at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. His wife Maria Hernandez, 81, was in fair condition at Florida Hospital Flagler in Palm Coast. Gertrude Marley, 86, was also in fair condition at Florida Hospital Flagler.Others treated and released from Florida Hospital Flagler over the weekend were Daniel Siegel, 58, and Suzanne Kuczek, 54, Louis Caroppoli, 74, and his wife, Letricia Caroppoli, 69.The accident happened at 1:24 p.m. Saturday closed the grocery store for the rest of the day. It reopened at 7 a.m. Sunday with a plywood patch and a wooden door at the entrance. The crash came less than two weeks after an airplane plunged into a Publix in DeLand, injuring five people and closing that store until sometime this summer.Three of the four people who took the first impact at the entrance were recovering at home Tuesday. Lasaunda Hampton, 33, was resting in bed at her home in the city's P section. Bandages were wrapped around her legs and small pieces of glass were still embedded in her feet. Hampton held her 3-month-old baby Tyshawn Davis, who had escaped with only a bump on his head.Hampton's 15-year-old daughter, Marshanna Jones, had most of her legs encased in white gauze. She had a bandage on her shoulder and more gauze wrapped around her right index finger. Marshanna needed 32 stitches to close cuts from the explosion of glass when the car ripped into the store.The Publix security camera video shows the family sitting on a bench inside the supermarket just beyond the sliding glass doors. The stroller with Tyshawn strapped in is outlined in the sunshine coming through the glass.Suddenly a car zooms into view. The car smashes through the doors and plows through the mother, her baby boy and her daughter as well as other people nearby. One of those is Lupo Hernandez, who had been playing with the baby, Hampton said. They all vanish from the screen. The Toyota also vanishes, leaving a trail of debris and a black tire tread mark on the floor."She just pushed everybody out the way like bowling pins," Hampton said of Wagenhoffer. "The older man that was sitting by me. He was the one that got stuck up under the car 'cause it was us three that she just hit first and the rest of them was just hitting them like bowling pins. Just knocking them out the way."Publix meat manager Dan Schill is credited with quickly organizing a group to lift the car off Hernandez.Hampton's daughter Marshanna Jones was as stunned as everyone else."I was crawling trying to get from under the car but I wasn't going anywhere," Jones said. "In the process of crawling I cut my finger and I just held on to it and I just closed my eyes and I was just sitting there and I was just still getting pushed and when I opened my eyes I saw the baby stroller, I mean his car seat, he was like sliding. And I was just looking like there's the baby but I don't see anybody else. And then by that time I was pinned against a shelf."Tyshawn was found still strapped into his car seat type stroller near the flowers and some potato chips. The baby suffered only a bump on the head. It had been bigger but the swelling has gone down, although doctors said he will experience some headaches for some time, Hampton said.Mom said someone must have been looking out for the little guy."It was like a little angel was watching over him," Hampton said.