Austin police say a driver drove into Face Foundrie on Exposition Boulevard, injuring one person and significantly damaging property.
AUSTIN, Texas — Multiple businesses in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood are cleaning up after a car drove into a spa, injuring one employee and damaging nearby structures.
Austin police say the crash happened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday at Face Foundrie on Exposition Boulevard. At first glance, the building might look like it’s being remodeled — but that’s actually the aftermath of a car crash that ripped through the spa’s front doors.
“Just when you think you’ve seen it all, apparently not,” said Caesar Jimenez, who works at West Bank Dry Cleaning next door.
Jimenez said he wasn’t at work when the crash happened but was shocked to hear about it.
“I really have to chalk this up as a freak accident,” Jimenez said. “That’s all I’m hoping it to be.”
According to Austin police, the driver was still inside the vehicle when they arrived. Firefighters had to stabilize the building before removing the car, and medics took the injured spa employee to the hospital with minor injuries.
“It could’ve been worse,” Jimenez said.
He added that while workers at West Bank Dry Cleaning weren’t hurt, their building was. “Yeah, the whole wall is torn off, we’ve got wires popping out,” Jimenez said, describing the damage to the shared wall between the two businesses.
Jimenez said pieces of glass covered the floor and fallen panels crushed a pole that holds up their clothing conveyor belt. “Now it’s shifted everything at our store that our front door is not able to close entirely anymore,” he said.
He explained that the wall dividing the two businesses is thin — which makes the situation even more frightening. “If we had an employee on that side of the wall taking orders because somebody came in, I mean that wall would’ve caved in on my co-manager,” Jimenez said.
Police haven’t said whether the driver will face citations or charges. The owner of Face Foundrie has not responded to requests for comment, but employees wrote in a social media post that the location will be closed for the foreseeable future.