Car crashes into North Carolina restaurant just weeks away from grand opening

WAKE FOREST, N.C. WNCN) — A Wake Forest restaurant just weeks away from possibly opening is now dealing with a big mess.

Someone smashed their car into it in the middle of the night. It happened at Acai Express, off Capital Boulevard. Surveillance video from a neighboring business shows a vehicle driving across the parking lot toward the front of the store. However, the storefront is just out of view.

“Saturday evening my friend texted me and she said, Oh, what happened to your store? She took a front picture and sent it to me. And I’m like, I don’t know anything. So, me and my husband just came here, drove off and saw all the damage that was done,” said Dipali Patel, who owns the restaurant with her husband.

No one was hurt, but videos of the damage show shattered glass everywhere, along with mangled door framing.

“I mean, we were heartbroken because we were almost ready to open this place and everything construction wise was done.”

Patel tells CBS 17 they were hoping to open the restaurant in November. It’s a plan they have been working on for more than a year.

A report taken by Wake Forest Police just after midnight Saturday lists the incident as a felony hit and run. “We talked to the cop, and they said at 12:00 at night, a car ran in and backed off and left,” said Patel. “And a lady at the gas station and somebody who was there who actually called the cop and told them that this is what happened.”

Monday morning, workers were boarding up the front of the store. Patel says she just wants to know who did this and why. “I don’t know if they were under the influence or what caused them to hit the store and just left. I’m not sure. I hope they capture that person.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Wake Forest Police.

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