A man was seriously injured Wednesday morning after a vehicle went off the road and struck a vehicle in a Gainesville restaurant parking lot, pinning him against a wall.

The man, who hasn’t been identified but is between 55 and 60 years old, suffered injuries to his head and leg and was taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville Fire Department Division Chief Keith Smith said.

He was next to a vehicle parked at Stan’s Biscuits and Deli, 1151 Thompson Bridge Road, when the wreck happened at 5 a.m.

A vehicle traveling north on Thompson Bridge Road crossed into the southbound lanes and struck the parked vehicle, Gainesville Police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Holbrook said.

“The crash pushed the parked vehicle into a patron of the restaurant, who was walking into the front door,” he said.

The patron, stuck between the parked vehicle and a small rock wall, was able to free himself, Smith said.

The impact also “threw him into the (front restaurant) window and broke the glass,” said restaurant co-owner Greg Loyd, who wasn’t present at the time of the wreck.

“Someone from (the restaurant) has gone to the hospital to check on the condition,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “He is one of our regular customers who’s in early every morning.”
A person in the driver’s seat of the parked car at the time was not injured. The driver of the vehicle that left the road — who also hasn’t been identified yet — also wasn’t injured, Smith said.

Also, what caused the driver to go off the road wasn’t immediately known.

Gainesville Police are investigating the incident, which left customers and restaurant employees shaken.

“Everyone was very upset,” Loyd said. “But first responders got here in a hurry … and were very diligent about taking care of what they needed to.”

Meanwhile, business is going on as usual, even as the restaurant considers repairs.

“We’re just waiting on the insurance people to look at (the damage) before we do anything,” Loyd said.