No charges in restaurant crash - cops
Car smashed through wall at William’s Seafood on Aug. 7, and Fredericton Police Force reports it won’t pursue prosecution over incident
An accident that saw a car go through the wall of a downtown restaurant and injure a customer won’t result in any charges against the driver, says the Fredericton Police Force.
Police, firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to William’s Seafood on the Exhibition Grounds in Fredericton at suppertime Aug. 7 after a car, operated by a male driver, crashed through a wall of the business.
The Fredericton Police Force (FPF) reported at the time that one customer inside the restaurant sustained minor injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment.
City police spokesperson Sonya Gilks said Wednesday investigators are still looking into the accident, but those events won’t lead to a case in provincial court against the driver.
“While the file remains under investigation, FPF is able to confirm there will be no charges associated with the incident,” she wrote in an email to the Fredericton Independent.
The restaurant was forced to close as a result of the damage to the structure, but it reopened Aug. 11.
Probe into similar crash
Meanwhile, the investigation into a similar accident in uptown Fredericton two months before the William’s Seafood incident is ongoing, Gilks said.
A tractor trailer going through the roundabout at the top of Smythe Street shortly after 6:30 a.m. June 7 went off the road and ended up crashing through the wall of the Fredericton Animal Hospital, which is in a strip mall at the corner of Smythe and Prospect streets.
The accident shut down the roundabout for hours that day, and the animal hospital for weeks.
“For the animal hospital, the file remains under investigation with no further information available at this time,” Gilks said Wednesday, declining to say if charges - be they under the Criminal Code of Canada or the provincial Motor Vehicle Act - are expected or being considered.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.