Sandra Miller said she was “shocked” when she got the call telling her someone had crashed into the front window of her flower shop in Rothesay.
She said it happened around 2 a.m. Saturday at Sandra Miller Floral Designs on Clark Road.
The impact shattered a large bay window, broke the window frame and pushed part of the wall into the store itself. The perpetrator fled the scene.
“We don’t know who did it, how it happened,” Miller said. “We don’t know if he was drunk, if he was sober, if it was a mistake.”
The property is owned by Homestar Inc.
A spokesperson for Kennebecasis Regional Police Force they received a call at 2:24 a.m. Saturday by staff at a bar next to the flower shop who noticed the window was broken.
Homestar owner Mark Hatfield said police called him a short time later. He said his staff worked quickly to board up the broken window.
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He believes a pickup truck backed into the wall, based on security camera footage from that time period. But he said the footage is not clear because of the time of day and the vehicle’s headlights were shining directly at the camera.
“You can see headlights coming down around 1:30 in the morning,” Hatfield said, standing in front of the damage outside the shop.
“And they stop just here in front of me, and you can see the vehicle back up. And then that’s the end of our camera angle. It jumps to another angle which is too far away to see the actual vehicle or license plate, and then we see it drive off.”
Hatfield said his staff will fix the wall soon, but it will take six to eight weeks to replace the window due to pandemic-related delays in supply.
He estimates costs at $4,000 to $5,000, which he will pay out-of-pocket rather than going through insurance.
The store remains open.
Miller said none of her display cases were damaged, no one was hurt and the incident happened during a time of year when any weather concerns are manageable.
She said she’s keeping a positive outlook by holding a “crash sale” at her store, offering discounts on flower bouquets through Sept. 11.
“Not being a busy season or being too hot, too cold, like that’s just automatically where my mind goes,” Miller said. “I thought, people are going to be talking about it anyways, so let’s give them something and let’s put a sale on and, yeah, make the best of it.”
Anyone with information about the hit and run is asked to call Kennebecasis Regional Police Force or Crimestoppers.
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