Make wishtv.com your home page

SUV crashes through front of west side restaurant

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A west side business is planning for repairs after a sport-utility vehicle crashed through the front of the building, doing significant damage.

IFD was dispatched to Hi Neighbor Tavern on at West 10th Street North Tibbs Avenue around 5 p.m. Sunday after reports of a car crash with entrapment.

Antonio Davis, who was the driver of a nearby stalled U-Haul box truck and told IFD he’d witnessed the crash, said the SUV crashed into the building after colliding with another car, driven by a 19-year-old male, that turned out of a gas station and cut across the eastbound lanes of 10th Street to merge with westbound lanes.

Davis said the 45-year-old woman driving the SUV and traveling west on 10th Street couldn’t see the car pull out because of the broken down U-Haul box truck on the side of the road.

According to the Indianapolis Fire Department, the driver of the SUV was initially trapped in the vehicle but was safely removed and transported to Eskenazi Hospital, along with her father, who was in the passenger seat. Both were in good condition after the crash, IFD said in a release.

The owners of the bar told IFD officials that only four people were inside at the time of the crash, and no one was injured.

The driver of the car was also transported to Eskenazi Hospital and is in good condition, according to IFD.

IFD said the structural damage was extensive, especially to the front side of the building.

Hi Neighbor Tavern has been owned by Timothy Francis and Chris Schaffer for the past two years, but has been open since 1938.

IFD officials say it’s unclear how long the bar will remain closed as the owners work with their insurance company to fix the damage done to the building.