A mother and son are in the hospital, after a car slammed into a Willimantic restaurant on Wednesday afternoon.
The Peking House Restaurant at 1601 Main Street at the Willimantic Plaza Shopping Center was in shambles after the car barreled through the Chinese restaurant around 4:00 p.m.
The restaurant manager said a mother and child were struck while they were eating their meal in the front booth.
“I’m still scared right now,” said the owner Linda Ling. She was hit in the face with shattered glass as the out of control Subaru struck her two customers.
“All of the sudden there was an explosion it felt like,” Tasha Gawkowski explained. Witnesses said the driver lost control in the strip mall parking lot, and clipped a sedan before it slammed into the business full of customers.
“I am a nervous wreck,” explained Jennifer White, the cousin of the victims. She rushed to the scene minutes later. White told NBC Connecticut the victims are Sarah Buskey and her 12- year- -old son Joe. Sarah was flown to Hartford Hospital, and Joe was taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Both had serious injuries. “She takes her son everywhere. Her son is her world. She was probably just having dinner…mother and son,” White added.
The woman behind the wheel was hurt too. On Wednesday night, Willimantic Police did not know how this happened, and did not believe alcohol was a factor.
“I just ran away, I don’t know what happened,” Linda Ling explained. She and the others who run this business, cleaned up the debris for hours, and tried to salvage what was left. “We gotta close for a while,” Ling said. After a frightening crash that happened in a matter of seconds.
Ling did not know when Peking House would reopen. At last check, Sarah Buskey was in critical condition, her son’s injuries were moderate, and the driver’s injuries were not serious.
