WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Car Smashes Through Front of Southside Gallery

Car Smashes Through Front of Southside Gallery

It was hardly business as usual at a local art gallery a few hours after a crash which left the business with a drive-through lane. A car crashed through the wall of the Alvida Art Gallery on Eisenhower and Abercorn.

"That's the phone call you don't expect to get," said owner Anne El-Habre.

That phone call was from the police, telling El-Habre that a driver parked her car inside her store. "What can you do? It's just like hey, there's a car in my gallery. It's bizarre."

It happened just after 7pm last night. A woman driving down Abercorn Street lost control, sending her car careening into the parking lot and through the gallery's window.

"No, I'm not angry," said El-Habre. "Just sorry it happened. She doesn't have a car, we don't have a building. Everyone loses unfortunately."

While this seems like a random act, actually it's the second time in the past few years this building has been hit by a car, and the gallery owners say they don't believe it's going to be the last.

"I sit here every day and see people flying down this road at ungodly speeds in all kinds of weather," said El-Habre.

Luckily, other than the wall and windows, damage was minimal. Only a few pieces of art destroyed, the rest of the store scattered, but untouched.

"People are still without homes in Louisiana, so you have to put it in perspective," El-Habre told us.

That perspective leaves El-Habre and her business partner still smiling amidst the rubble. And even able to make a joke about their latest piece of "art."

"We're going to frame that," she said of a piece of the car left behind after the wreck. "This will be on our wall at some point, because you have to keep something from it."

Something to keep this memory alive long after the damage is fixed.

The driver walked away from the accident a little shaken up but basically uninjured.

Reported by: Andrew Davis, andrewdavis@wtoc.com