SUV hits 3 pedestrians before crashing into Boston restaurant

BOSTON - Three people were hurt after an SUV crashed into a restaurant on a busy Friday afternoon in Boston, according to police.

3 pedestrians hit

The incident happened at 3:43 p.m. at the intersection of Stuart and Tremont streets. Chaos and confusion were captured on cellphone video, as a man inside the crashed SUV was loaded up onto a stretcher. Witnesses said his car smashed into Genki-Ya Japanese Restaurant, hitting three pedestrians in the process. Police said two were rushed to the hospital and they're expected to survive.

"Very scary to be that close to know that if I didn't hear a crash and didn't look up, I could have been right there in the middle of it," said witness Alex Simpson. Even though Simpson was in the path of the danger, he rushed to use a pocket knife to cut the driver's airbag. "We got in there and got the airbag cut and started checking him to see if he was doing alright and he was not doing well."

Witnesses said the SUV had collided with another car in the Tremont and Stuart streets intersection when it lost control and careened into the restaurant.

"I turned around and it was smashed into the building, and I saw one person lying on the ground over there and someone was tending to her, she looked pretty bad, a lot of blood," said witness Andrew Denney.

Restaurant seriously damaged

Eleven years open on the bustling Boston corner, the restaurant owner said nothing like this has ever happened. The inside of the restaurant showed some serious damage.

"We cannot do business right now," said owner Jason Yu. "The structure has big damage, that's why the building department get here, the inspector is here."

The fact that it even happened startled those walking by, some shaken by how close it was.

"We're just thankful that we were not part of it, praying for anyone else that was potentially injured," said Dylan Stevens.

Police said inspectional services were called to the restaurant. It will remain closed for now.