ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — A BMW drove off of I-4 and crashed into The Crab House on SR-535 and Palm Parkway (see map) , Friday morning. Witnesses said the driver told them he blacked out and doesn't remember what happened.
SLIDESHOW: Car Ends Up Inside The Crab House
According to the manager, the restaurant may have thousands of dollars in damages, especially if the car ruptured the propane line under the deck.
There are no roads behind the restaurant, just a retention pond. A tow truck had to drive around to pull the car out of the back patio deck of The Crab House. The car is a mangled mess and so is the restaurant.
"I was actually there and sat with him and until EMT took him away," witness Jammi Beverly said.
Beverly and her family were driving down I-4 near Apopka-Vineland Road (SR-535), on their way to SeaWorld, when they saw the BMW moving erratically.
"When we saw the vehicle pull over and he proceeded to go through the gate, we assumed he went into the retention pond," Beverly said.
The tire tracks in the grass would lead you to think the same thing, but somehow the driver, 46-year-old Suheil Elias Jammal II, drove through a ditch, went through the fence, veered around a retention pond, missed a cement block and crashed into the restaurant. That's about 80 yards of maneuvering with his eye closed. According to Beverly, the man fainted.
"The gentleman was incoherent. He didn't remember anything. He remembered pulling off saying he felt dizzy and was calling someone to come get him, and the next thing he knows he's waking up and we're opening his door," she said.
The crash wasn't enough to deploy the car's airbags.
Beverly told WFTV Jammal had been sick for the last few days and going to work for the first time in a while. State troopers haven't confirmed the story. They're talking to Jammal in the hospital and say he will be OK.
The restaurant will remain open Friday.