A University student was arrested Saturday night after drunkenly crashing into nine parked cars before slamming into Koi Sushi restaurant on 217 W. State St.
Anne Wallace, 18, of 3004 Concord Place, Tyler, Texas, was arrested around midnight for DWI and failure to maintain control of her vehicle, said Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman.
Darren Deng, Koi Sushi manager, said witnesses saw Wallace back up her vehicle at full speed, where she hit four cars. She then proceeded to drive forward into five more cars, Deng said.
Deng said Wallace drove into a parked truck with enough force to send the truck into the wall of the restaurant, and her car followed after.
The wreck put a 5-foot hole in the building and knocked down several concrete blocks from the adjacent retaining wall. Tables and booths were flipped over inside the restaurant, Deng said.
Deng said he is glad no one was hurt, but it was a close call.
“It was completely out of nowhere. The people at that table [against the wall] had just left,” he said. “We didn’t even put down new plates yet.”
Besides the hole in the wall, electrical lines and pipes were also broken.
Deng said the damage is likely to cost thousands of dollars, and his business will be closed for at least a week.
“We are having the insurance people look at it,” he said. “The whole wall has to be replaced.”
Deng said he doesn’t plan on pressing charges unless his insurance can’t cover the cost of the repairs.
Morgan Kerns, biochemistry and microbiology junior who works at Koi, said she is concerned for the livelihood of the restaurant’s staff.
“Several of the waiters work multiple shifts during the week, and they depend on that for      paying bills,” she said. “That’s their job.”
Deng said he is mostly concerned about the damage this will do to his business.
“Customers will come and see we are not open, and then when they come back again, they’ll see that we’re still not open,” he said. “We’ll lose potential and existing customers due to this incident. It’s very unfortunate. We want to serve our customers.”
Wallace tested with a 0.137 blood alcohol content and was booked in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, McKneely said.
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Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]