By Bill McCleery
Indianapolis Star
Copyright 2007 The Indianapolis Star
GREENWOOD, Ind. — An ambulance driver gave new meaning to the word “drive-in” this morning at a Starbucks in Greenwood.
Shortly before 1 a .m., an ambulance operated by Trans-Care Inc. crashed through the façade of the coffee shop, located at 1035 E. Main St.
When the crash occurred, one employee of the ambulance company was inside buying beverages, and another was outside waiting in the ambulance, said Starbucks shift manager Spencer Lloyd.
The employee waiting outside accidentally dropped several items onto the floor of the driver’s side, according to Lloyd. That employee bent over underneath the steering wheel to retrieve the items and apparently bumped the vehicle into gear by accident, Lloyd said, causing it to lurch forward.
No patients were in the ambulance at the time of the incident, Lloyd said.
The accident caused minor structural damage at the coffee shop and shattered a window, Lloyd said. Starbucks briefly closed the store to walk-in customers, but the drive-in window remained open, he said. After maintenance crews cleaned up debris and boarded up a window, the Starbucks reopened to walk-in customers.
“Wear your coats to Starbucks today,” Lloyd joked. “It’s a little chilly.”
One employee thought the crash was a gunshot, Lloyd said, and was somewhat relieved to discover the sound had been made instead by the impact of a vehicle crash.
A Greenwood police dispatcher found a brief notation of an officer responding to an accident at Starbucks at 12:51 a.m. but said she had no report citing details of the incident.