Mitch Kushner was chatting with one of his customers at Bean Here Now Consciousness Cafe on Victoria St. on Friday afternoon when a minivan crashed through his fence, reversed over his porch and smashed into his business. It narrowly missed a pedestrian.
"I was inside the trailer doing my business and there was this van accelerating really fast," Kushner told the Star, on scene shortly before 3 p.m. "It went through the post and the fence we just finished building and it hit me. My whole place got knocked over to a certain degree."
Kushner and the 66-year-old male driver were uninjured.
"I'm shook up. I'm worried about my future," said Kushner, who was searching through the wreckage for his cell phone. When asked what it will take to get his business going again, he shrugged despondently and offered a single-word response: "money".
Cst. Jarrett Slomba said driver error is responsible.
"The driver it's believed he accelerated versus using the brake for quite a period of time and got his foot stuck there. We're still investigating, but all indications are it was driver error."
The fire department was on scene to assist with Kushner's exit and to stabilize the trailer. Thor's Pizzeria has started a donation fund for Kushner next door.
