Impatient Patient Crashes Auto Into Dentist’s Office

A distraught man seeking to have a tooth repaired slammed his car through a wall and into the waiting room of a Tujunga dental office Tuesday, slightly injuring a patient, Los Angeles police said.

Guiseppe Logreco, 48, of Tujunga, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon--the automobile--Foothill Division Officer John Morris said.

Logreco, whose mother said he has been in the care of a psychiatrist, drove into the Foothill Dental Group office at 6581 Foothill Blvd. after he was refused an immediate appointment to repair a crown that had fallen off one of his teeth, Morris said.

The events leading to the crash of Logreco’s large white 1968 sedan through the office’s front wall and plate glass window began with a telephone call to the office at about 9 a.m., Morris said.

The “hysterical” caller said a crown installed some time earlier by one of the office’s dentists had fallen off, and he wanted it fixed immediately, Morris said. After a brief exchange, the caller hung up.

But about 15 minutes later, “He came into the office yelling, using profanity,” said dental office receptionist Carolyn Huntoon, who gave Logreco an appointment for today and handed him a reminder card.

About 10 minutes later, as Huntoon sat inside the office, she heard a loud roar and was knocked to the floor, she said.

“I thought it was a bomb at first,” she said. “The whole building shook.”

Huntoon said she picked herself up and saw the Ford’s wheels spinning furiously into the office’s carpet and spewing smoke.

Kevin Hennessy, 28, of Tujunga, who had been waiting to have a tooth pulled, was pinned between the car and the counter, Morris said.

Several passers-by managed to pry Hennessy free and he was later treated for minor injuries at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, Morris said.

Logreco, meanwhile, had stepped out of the car and stood among the crowd of sidewalk spectators, Morris said. He approached Police Officer Gordon Hagge, Morris said.

Hagge said Logreco told him, “Look at this,” pulling from his pocket the reminder card and the dislodged crown. He said Logreco added, “I’ve waited long enough to get it fixed.”

Hagge then arrested Logreco, who was being held in lieu of $2,000 bail, authorities said.