SUV Rams Into Stores, but Customers Unhurt

A family of five buying doughnuts at a Newport Beach bakery escaped injury Sunday morning when a sport-utility vehicle crashed through the front window, rolled across the store and plunged through a wall into an adjoining Chinese restaurant.

Newport Beach police said Francisco Gove, driver of the Honda, hit the accelerator instead of the brake and damaged the two stores at a strip mall at 3601 Jamboree Road. Gove was not charged, police said.

Conrad Giedt and his four children, ranging in age from 2 to 12 years, were inside Lina’s Bakery. “He drove through the door and pretty much destroyed the front of the shop,” Giedt said. “He drove 10 to 15 feet into the store, veered to the right and crashed through the wall into the Chinese restaurant next door.”

Giedt’s 2-year-old daughter was at the counter and his three sons were standing by the display case when the SUV whizzed past, Giedt said. He described the driver as “very apologetic.”

The shock of the incident eased about two minutes later, Giedt said, when a woman and her son walked into the shattered shop, ignored the broken glass and SUV protruding from the wall and tried to order doughnuts.