Car collides with Subway

Grand Island Dispatch, April 18, 2008
by Ray Pauley
Public Information Officer
Grand Island Fire Co.

Grand Island Fire Company firefighter Pete Sukmankowski surveys the damage at the Subway Sandwiches and Salads, 2287 Grand Island Blvd., after a vehicle crashed though the front window of the business. Subway is back and open for business.

When Mike Dudley took his wife Lisa, daughter Kara, and son Eric to the local Subway Sandwiches and Salads for a quiet Thursday evening meal, he could not imagine that it would suddenly turn into an extremely harrowing experience.

But that’s exactly what happened when a vehicle driven by 44-year-old Patricia Rafferty of Grand Island came crashing through the front plate glass window of the business, located at 2287 Grand Island Blvd., after jumping up and across a four-foot walkway.

Grand Island firefighters arrived on location at 6:23 p.m., according to Capt. Paul Gorman, who reported no serious injuries to the Dudley family members, who were sitting in the front booth where shards of glass and other debris landed within inches. Gorman described this entire incident as “an unexplained freak accident.”

The driver, who had somehow lost control of her vehicle, was evaluated at the scene by GIFC EMS personnel and transported to Mount St. Mary’s Hospital and Health Center in Lewiston as a precautionary measure.

All GIFC units returned in service at 6:50 p.m.