Mustang crashes through meters – restaurant still has no gas

Customers of Leroy’s Café, located at 2555 US-1 South, were still not being served their usual lunch of hamburgers and French fries today, as workers are still attempting to restore natural gas to the restaurant and other businesses near the intersection of Lewis Point Road.

Historic City News was notified by Florida Highway Patrol Sergeant H. L. Smith that at about 8:10 p.m. last night, 45-year-old Duane Alan Barnes, who resides at 1540 Arapaho Avenue in St Augustine, left the roadway — crashing through a metered gas line, and into a set of mailboxes and a traffic sign on the west side of US-1, southbound.

Barnes is reported to be a pizza delivery man; although it is not known if he was making a delivery at the time of the crash. He was driving his 1997 Ford Mustang through the Lewis Point Road intersection, when he reported that an unknown driver changed lanes in front of him. His vehicle ornament was turned in to lunch counter at Leroys.

According to Barnes, the vehicle was so close; it caused him to take evasive action by executing a sharp lane change. Barnes told officers on the scene that he lost control of his vehicle before the crash, which resulted in about $6,000 in damages.

Emergency medical personnel stabilized Barnes for transportation to the hospital in serious, but not life-threatening condition.

US-1 remained closed for about an hour last night for crews to turn the gas supply off and clean up. TECO Gas Company says that the repairs should be completed before they leave this evening and service should be restored to Leroy’s and other customers by tomorrow.