OMAHA – White SUV Crashes into Crane Coffee near 132nd and West Maple. Two young women lying in the parking lot; one unconscious and bleeding from her head, the other a few feet away, screaming “it hurts.” In the wreckage of the building, bystanders pulling bricks off another woman. She appeared unconscious.
This was Tuesday morning in a west Omaha parking lot. A sports utility vehicle crashed into the small but popular Crane Coffee shop, injuring five, witnesses said.
“I was just in shock because I had never seen something like this,” said Olivia Smith, 19, who arrived in the immediate aftermath of the crash. “It did not feel real.”
The crash took place before 9:45 a.m. just east of 132nd Street and West Maple Road when a Jeep Grand Cherokee plowed into the coffee shop at Eagle Run Square shopping center.
Omaha Police Sgt. Doug Klein said, four of the five injured are Crane Coffee employees. The 5th is the driver of the Jeep.
The employees of Crane and their reported injuries: Rachel Ayala, 36, a possible injury to her esophagus; Danae Humbert, 25, a lacerated liver and a fractured pelvis; Chrisanna McClure, 22, cuts and scrapes; and Jesse Moore, 29, a broken left hand, cuts and scrapes.
One of the workers had been ejected from the building into the parking lot, police said. They did not specify which one.
Ayala was listed in critical condition Tuesday evening at Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy, Humbert was listed in serious condition, and McClure had been treated and released.
The driver of the SUV was identified as Jake Yestingsmeier, 33, of Omaha. He suffered minor injuries from the deployment of the airbag, police said.
Yestingsmeier, who was treated and released, told police that he blacked out and did not recall what happened.
Neither speed nor alcohol appears to have been a factor in the crash, police said. An officer conducted a drug-recognition evaluation on Yestingsmeier, but it came back negative.
Truong said he asked the driver what had happened.
“He said he did not remember anything,” Truong said.
“I just hope the families are doing OK, the victims are doing OK,” she said. “I hope everything gets figured out with the driver.”
Klein said the SUV was eastbound on West Maple when it veered to the right, went off the road, crossed a grassy area and another road before entering the parking lot where it smashed into the Crane Coffee shop.
The 312-square-foot building is a total loss, police said.
No tire marks indicating braking were evident outside the building.
