4 Injured as Car Crashes Into Fullerton Restaurant

At least four people were injured Saturday when a driver lost control of his car and plowed through the front of a Fullerton restaurant, trapping one man underneath the vehicle and showering customers with shards of glass.

The Mustard Seed, an American country-style eatery on Harbor Boulevard, was beginning to fill with customers when the canary yellow Cadillac Sedan de Ville smashed through its arched front windows about 12:15 p.m., the restaurant’s owners said.

Firefighters rescued one man trapped beneath the vehicle, and at least one woman needed stitches after being struck by flying glass. Four victims--one waitress and three customers--were taken to St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center.

None of the injuries was life-threatening, police and hospital officials said. Property damage, though, could reach tens of thousands of dollars, said restaurant owner Michael King.

The driver was heading south on Harbor Boulevard when he tried to make a left turn, restaurant workers said. As he began to lose control of his car, a black Cadillac driving north on the other side of the street collided with his car, sending him veering off the road, they said.

The car narrowly missed a fire hydrant, a ficus tree and a pylon before it shattered the restaurant’s 12-foot-high windows that front the street. The glass, witnesses said, seemed to explode.

“I heard somebody breaking glass but the sound kept coming and coming and coming,” said Michael McEwan, the restaurant’s manager, who was cooking at the time. “I looked around the corner and I saw a yellow Cadillac in the restaurant. There was a guy pinned underneath. His legs were sticking out.”

McEwan rushed to the customer, a man in his 60s, who moments earlier had been sitting at one of the restaurant’s two front booths. Now he was trapped, his table shielding him from the car bearing down on him.

McEwan scanned the restaurant, which was rapidly filling with smoke and the smell of burning rubber from the car’s tires. Shards of glass had struck a woman who had been eating in the other front booth. Two other customers were also hit by flying glass.

Paramedics were soon on the scene, and seven firefighters lifted the car off the trapped customer, witnesses said.