Terry Lee’s Olde World Sandwich Shoppe Restaurant hit by car

ALBANY, Ga. — A change of seats just may have saved two lives just before noon Wednesday.

Cecilia Cravey took her friend Pat Jarrett’s suggestion to sit in the back of Terry Lee’s Sandwich Shoppe just before watching an automobile smash through the window and table in front, where she had been sitting minutes before.

“I usually sit there in the front with my daughter,” Cravey said. “But Pat said she likes to sit in the back. That was lucky.”

The Infinity failed to stop in the parking lot, shattered two floor-to-ceiling windows, went through tables, chairs and the counter at the shop leaving glass shards all over the floor. No injuries were reported.

The driver, Charles Hollis, 57, was given a field sobriety test in the shop’s parking lot at 116 W. Broad Ave. by Albany Police Department officers. The officers charged him with drunken driving and took him to Dougherty County Jail, said Phyllis Banks, police spokeswoman.

According to police Cpl. Jon Segroves, Hollis hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal as he pulled in a parking spot in front of the restaurant. The car zoomed forward into the shop where about 12 patrons were either eating lunch or waiting to be served.

Usually there is a line snaking its way from the counter with customers waiting to place their orders, Lee said. It was lucky that there were only a couple patrons waiting for sandwiches when the car struck, he added.

Frank Hadley said he was on the last bite of his sandwich when the restaurant “exploded” in front of him.

“I saw it coming through the window into the counter near my table,” Hadley said. “It scared me. I jumped into a corner.”

Hadley called Dougherty County EMTs and they examined him. He said he wasn’t injured, just upset.

Lee said he hoped to have the damage to his business repaired by next week at the latest. Cravey and Jarrett said they would be back for a “shop warming” when Lee reopens.

Lee kept his sense of humor. A woman poked her head in through the now non-existent glass wall and asked if she could get lunch.

“Yeah,” said Lee, “we are opening up a drive thru.”