A semitrailer crossed several lanes of U.S. Highway 98 traffic, jumped a drainage ditch, skimmed a palm tree and slammed through a 1-foot-thick concrete wall before crashing into the Tuscany restaurant parking lot.
"It was amazing, absolutely amazing," said Destin Fire District battalion chief Mike Urenda, noting that the vehicle came to rest 2 inches from a pair of vehicles in the lot near Regatta Bay. "He did not hit one car."
The incident happened at about 5:50 p.m. Friday, and remarkably no one was injured.
The truck was traveling westbound, and when the driver lost control, the 18-wheeler crossed the median and at least three lanes of traffic.
"If you go out there, you'll see the ruts and it'll blow your mind," Urenda said, noting that it's amazing the driver didn't flip given that the drainage ditch was 3 to 4 feet deep.
Urenda said the driver had a medical problem and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
He said firefighters worked the scene much of the night, removing concrete, oil and transmission fluid.
"What we had was a big ol' cleanup..." he said, adding the parking lot is usually full but had to be blocked off for much of the evening.
"Poor Tuscany," he said. "They lost a lot of money 'cause no one could eat there."
AN EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT FROM PEGGY HERBIG OF DESTIN
Bill and I arrived at Tuscany Italian restaurant off Hwy. 98 for dinner, and as we got out of the car, we heard a very loud noise that sounded like a huge crash on the Hwy. 98 or a bomb.
The whole restaurant shook. The attached pictures show the truck that came across the median from the west side lane then came down the side of the road into Tuscany's lot.
That means that it came across from the west bound side across the median and crossed in front of east bound traffic ran off the road on the east side, hit a concrete barrier and dropped several feet into the parking area in front of Tuscany's restaurant where it came to a stop.
Fortunately to my knowledge other than the driver of the truck no one was injured or killed and only one car had slight damage. Hopefully the driver is OK.
The EMS and fire department did a great job.
Just another exciting night in Destin...
Copyright 2013 - The Destin Log, Fla.
