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Jul 17, 2008 4:40 pm US/Central
Man Crashes Pickup Through Dallas Bar
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
A bar manager on Lower Greenville Avenue was closing up shop when a truck crashed through the building, early Thursday morning.
Employees at the Dubliner Irish Pub, in the 2800 block of Greenville Avenue, spent most of the afternoon cleaning up the mess.
Officers reportedly noticed driver Michael Andersen, 29, because he hit a curb and was driving with one of his tires flat. When police tried to stop Andersen they say he led them on a short chase, blew through four stop signs on Goodwin and then crashed into the Dubliner.
Bar manager Vinnie Andrade says he was preparing to close the bar when he heard a loud crash. According to Andrade that's when a black Nissan pickup came barreling through the establishment.
Andrade says he dove behind the bar when he heard the crash, but if the accident had happened 30 seconds earlier he would have been in the truck's direct path.
"I could have easily just been walking up and I'm not going to hear the car, because I'm inside. And then he could have just barreled right through and just took me out from behind," Andrade explained. "So I'm was just luckily that I got to that door and was just coming down instead of walking away where I saw him and was able to get out of the way."
Andrade says after the crash Andersen tried to run from the scene, was incoherent, stumbling and couldn't even talk.
Despite damage to the building bar managers plan to reopen Thursday night. Andrade says he's still stunned by this morning's events.
"There was actually a full vehicle in this bar. It was just sitting there. It was ridiculous. Not one piece of that car was outside of this bar."
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