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May 12, 2023

Elderly driver crashes car into Fall River's Daou Tesoro's Supermarket

FALL RIVER — An elderly customer drove his car through the front door of Daou

FALL RIVER — An elderly customer drove his car through the front door of Daou Tesoro's Supermarket on President Avenue around lunchtime on Wednesday, but no one was hurt in the accident including the driver.

A large metal and glass door was pushed inside the market, lying in front of the produce shelves, and glass shards littered the store floor.

"It's a busy market. That door right there, that's a heavy door. If that had hit someone, frankly I don't know. Thankfully it didn't happen," said the owner's son, Diego Restrepo.

Restrepo said he witnessed the accident. He’d just run out for some lunch and was approaching the store entrance when the man's car hurtled through the front door.

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"He was parked right there," said Restrepo pointing to a parking spot directly in front of the door. "I’m assuming he meant to put the car in reverse, but put it in drive. He was an older man; he comes in all the time. He rammed right in. Thankfully no one was in the way."

Pointing to a store worker stocking fruits and vegetables near where the car and debris landed, Restrepo said the woman is always working in that part of the store.

"But she wasn't there at the time," he said.

Fall River Building Inspector Frank Hilario, who was at the scene after the crash, said he told the owners that as soon as the debris was cleared and the destroyed front doors were boarded up, the market could open for business again.

A man who identified himself as a property manager at the shopping plaza also was on scene and directing confused shoppers to move vehicles away from the front of the market.

The owner of the store, also named Diego Restrepo, had only purchased the popular Lebanese Daou Market in April.

Since then, the store has been remodeled, including knocking down a wall into an empty space next door adding another 3,000 square feet to the original 5,000-square-foot market.

"Everything's new and we spent a lot of time on the renovation, including those new doors," said Restrepo.

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But Wednesday's accident won't be a setback for the family-owned store.

"With my dad's mentality, he does construction, he's going to get people to do this maybe within the week," said Restrepo. "The best case of course is we’ll be open tomorrow."