People grabbing a late-night bite at a legendary South Philadelphia eatery had quite the scare overnight.
A driver going north on E. Passayunk Avenue allegedly ran a stop sign, swerved to avoid oncoming traffic and drove up onto the sidewalk along Pat’s Steaks at Passayunk and Wharton Street around 2 a.m.
Plenty of people were outside the iconic cheesesteak shop at the time. Besides hitting a string of parked cars, the out-of-control silver sedan also smashed a table next to where diners were standing before coming to a stop.
Mike Berger, visiting from Florida, describes the scene following the wreck.
"The driver was stumbling around and everyone was telling him to sit down, have a seat, and he was frantically moving stuff. We saw him drop a bottle of booze in the trash can... his head was bleeding and he went across the street. Folks were telling him to come back, sit down, sit down but he ended up running off.”
The crash caused significant damage to the front of the sedan. The force of the wreck was enough to push a parked SUV an entire car length. Two other cars were also damaged.
Philadelphia Police continued to search for the driver early Tuesday morning. A female passenger from the man’s car were taken to the hospital because she had fallen out of the car and onto the sidewalk following the crash. A third passenger ran from the scene but turned himself into police a short time later.
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Luckily, no one on the sidewalk was hit.
"This is a crowded corner, people are here all the time, " said Joe Langefeld of Mount Laurel, N.J. "If anyone had been walking through the street at that time, they'd be dead."
Anyone with information on this crash is asked to contact Philadelphia Police.
And, in case you were wondering, Pat's stayed opened throughout the incident.
