Driver crashes into restaurant

COEUR d’ALENE — If there was something good about having a vehicle crash into her restaurant Monday morning, Naomi Boutz found it.

“It was sunny, so if we had been open there would have been somebody at that table,” said the owner of Vine and Olive Eatery & Wine Bar at the Village at Riverstone.

A red SUV went over the curb and a shrub before it crashed into a window and wall when the driver tried to park in front of the restaurant just after 11 a.m.

The woman suffered minor injuries and was transported to Kootenai Health, according to a press release.

There were no other injuries.

It could have been worse.

“If she had been in the next parking spot over, she would have been in the middle of my restaurant,” Boutz said.

Boutz and several employees were inside the eatery at 2037 N. Main St. preparing to open for lunch at 11:30 a.m. when there was a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass.

She immediately began running to the front of the building.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, somebody hit the restaurant,’” she said.

Boutz feared someone might be having a medical problem and she was prepared to pull them to safety and perhaps administer CPR.

She found a shaken and hurt elderly woman in the driver’s seat. Fluid was leaking from the vehicle and the horn was blaring.

“It was super chaotic,” she said.

A server and chef helped the woman from the SUV and found a place for her to sit. Boutz called 911.

“I told them we needed an ambulance,” she said.

The woman's knee was banged up, her face was bruised from the impact of the airbag, she couldn’t walk and she looked like she was in shock, said Boutz, who was rattled herself.

“I’m still shaking,” she said about 1:30 p.m. as she sat at the counter of the restaurant.

Vine and Olive reopened later Monday after cleaning up.

Kurtis Thornton of MDI Construction installed a board in place of the shattered glass removed by firefighters.

“If the bumper didn’t hit right there, she would have been inside,” Thornton said, pointing to the brick wall with a hole now in it.

An engineer inspected the damage to be sure the structure was sound.

The driver was insured — and apologetic.

“She said she thought she was hitting the brake and she hit the gas,” Boutz said.

A server brought the woman a cup of tea, who appreciated the kindness shown to her by Vine and Olive staff.

As the woman was placed on a stretcher, Boutz said, “I hope you’ll be OK."

After all that happened, the woman displayed a sense of humor.

“I’m gonna come in for a glass of wine," she told Boutz, who laughed as she recounted the story.

“She was super sweet,” she said.