Carri Sailor heard a loud thump just after the lunch rush hour Monday at Rookies Sports Bar & Grill. When she rushed outside to see what had happened, she saw a car had crashed into the fence surrounding an outdoor patio at Rookies and struck a nearby gas meter.
Gas was spraying from the broken meter.
An elderly man she believed to be the driver was sitting on the ground across the street, surrounded by a group of passersby who ran to help after the accident.
After being assured that 911 had been called, Sailor asked Rookies customers to clear the building as a precaution and notified neighboring businesses. There were about a dozen people at Rookies at the time.
Since we are a restaurant and theres an open flame, I thought it would be smarter to have everyone leave, just to be safe, Sailor said.
City crews were able to stop the gas leak quickly.
The driver apparently had been headed southbound on Jackson Avenue and attempted to turn east onto Jefferson Avenue when the car ran over the curb, struck the fence, a sign and gas meter. A report from the Iola Police Department was not available. The condition of the driver and his identity were not released.
Fortunately, no one had been sitting in the outdoor patio area.
