VIDEO: Truck crashes into thrift store in Cedar Crest, driver flees scene

CEDAR CREST, N.M. (KRQE) – An out-of-control truck crashes into a thrift store in the early hours of Friday morning, and it’s all captured on video. Then, the driver takes off running. The people who run the shop in Cedar Crest spoke about the incident.

“We’ve never had anything like this happen,” said Paula Martin, store manager of Talking Talons Thrift Shop.

Just before 2:00 a.m., surveillance video captures the truck crashing into that shop off of Highway 14, and just moments later, it also shows the driver running away from the scene, abandoning the vehicle.

“He was young. So, I don’t know if he fell asleep or if it was drugs or alcohol,” Martin stated.

Hours later just after 5:00 a.m., Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies pulled the abandoned truck out of the thrift store wall.

“He had to come through that hill and fly through the air and still have enough power to knock the wall down so probably 80 to100 miles an hour; So, somebody was moving,” stated John Ross, co-executive director of Talking Talons Youth Leadership Organization.

In the light of day, the rubble can be seen from the road.

“It was worse than this, we kind of pulled a little bit out. We’re trying to secure the building here, so total disarray. Lots of property damage, lots of inventory ruined,” Martin said.

Ross and Martin claimed the wreckage constitutes thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Shattered glass and debris littered the floor – remnants of cabinets that once held Native American pottery and valuable jewelry. All of those items’ proceeds were meant to support the Talking Talons Leadership Organization, whose aim is to provide environmental education to kids in the community.

“So, what the thrift store does is critically important for us because if it doesn’t work, it just makes it that much harder to serve the kids,” Ross explained.

The store has a staff of eleven people. Even though no one was injured, it may be months before the thrift store gets back on its feet.

Ross and Martin spoke with BCSO about the problem of speeding in the area and have a message for the driver: “First of all, we’re glad you’re okay, number one – but whatever you were doing, you shouldn’t do!” Ross said.

The Talking Talons Thrift Store are still taking donations, but the store will be closed for the foreseeable future. The store set up a GoFundMe page, which can be found here.

BCSO tells News 13 the driver has not been located, and they’re actively investigating.

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