Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital’s satellite dialysis unit will remain open today, despite heavy damage after an allegedly drunk driver crashed through the wall on the way to get his grandkids.
Windsor police responded to the crash around 9 p.m. Thursday. Investigators said the 70-year-old man hit the FreshCo building on McDougall Street at Tecumseh Road, then drove through the front entrance to the satellite renal clinic.
The hospital said there is significant damage to the unit’s front entrance and waiting room area. None of the medical equipment was damaged. Patients with dialysis appointments today have been notified, and asked to use the rear entrance to the building.
Windsor police arrived on scene Thursday night to find a group of people gathered in front of FreshCo and the medical clinic. A pick-up truck was embedded in the front of the clinic with the driver still behind the wheel.
Witnesses told police the man had attempted to reverse out of the clinic but could not.
The man’s red GMC Sierra pickup truck was towed away and the man was brought to police headquarters for a breathalyzer test.
Police said he tested for more than two times the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
After talking to the man, police learned he had driven to those locations after being called to pick up his grandchildren.
He is facing charges of impaired operation of a motor vehicle and exceeding the breathalyzer.
Damage to the truck is estimated at $7,000.
Damage to the buildings is estimated at $10,000 and $15,000.
No one was injured.
A red GMC pickup truck crashed through a window at the dialysis clinic in the plaza located on McDougall Road at Tecumseh Road East on May 2, 2013. (Courtesy of Kevin Meloche)
A red GMC pickup truck crashed through a window at the dialysis clinic in the plaza located on McDougall Road at Tecumseh Road East on May 2, 2013. (Courtesy of Kevin Meloche)
A red GMC pickup truck crashed through a window at the dialysis clinic in the plaza located on McDougall Road at Tecumseh Road East on May 2, 2013. (Courtesy of Kevin Meloche)
