An 18-year-old man has been charged with impaired driving and dangerous driving after crashing a Ford F-150 into a southwest Edmonton dental clinic Friday evening.
Police said the driver was pulling out from a spot when he crashed into a parked vehicle. The impact propelled that vehicle into two others that were parked in the lot. The driver then attempted to leave, blew past a stop sign and T-boned a vehicle driving south on Terwillegar Drive. As a result, the pickup truck spun back into the building.
Riverbend Family Dental Care, located at 40 Avenue and 147 Street, was still conducting appointments as usual on Saturday, despite the damage to the front of the clinic.
The owner and dentist Finley Mah, was having dinner at a lounge across the plaza when it all happened. A server broke the news to him that his clinic had been hit.
“I was looking for my cellphone and took some pictures,” he recalled.
The crash shattered windows, damaged a front pillar and a wall inside one of the examination areas.
“That one pillar looks like it could be load-bearing,” he said. “So it looks like they may have to replace most of the front because everything is connected.”
Mah said staff at The Bend, the lounge he was dining at, told him the teen had been seen drinking there earlier with two other friends.
Police have not released the name of the teen.