Police catch driver who fled after crash into San Marco Avenue antique store

Historic City News learned that at about 3:00 a.m. this morning, a late model Toyota Venza crashed into a San Marco Avenue antique shop causing extensive damage.  No injuries were reported, according to televised news accounts.

Antiques and Things, on the corner of San Marco Avenue and Cincinnati Avenue, reopened for business today after the collision took out a window and concrete-block construction on the southwest corner of the building.

“Police said it was a 14 or 15-year-old kid out for a joyride,” Bob Kolatac, the owner of Antiques and Things, told local reporters from the scene.  “The police were following the SUV, and when the driver saw them, they stepped on the gas. When they couldn’t negotiate the turn down Cincinnati Avenue, they went into this building.”

The sound of the crash that rocked the building and caused extensive internal damage, was so loud that it awakened nearby Abbott Tract residents and business owners.  One neighbor captured images of the collision that were broadcast on Jacksonville’s WJXT.

Although the images show the Toyota Venza lodged halfway inside the structure, broken china, and parts of the vehicle strewn inside the shop, the store owner said no one was injured. 

“They took off down the street,” Kolatac reported, saying police were still at the scene when he arrived about 10-minutes later.  “The SUV was already gone.  The police caught the kids.”

The owner of the antique shop described a lot of damage to the walls inside. He said some of the store’s large inventory was pushed through into the other side of the building.  Kolatac said that a man who made emergency repairs to the window was coming back later today to better brace the wall.