Jeep overturns onto Lemongrass patio

KAPAA The Lemongrass Grill Seafood and Bar opened Friday evening, nearly 24-hours after a suspected intoxicated driver overturned his Jeep on the establishments front patio Thursday night.

According to police, 23-year-old Timothy Hoffmeyer of Kapaa was not injured after crashing his Jeep Cherokee into the restaurant at approximately 9:55 p.m.

All of the customers were out of the building by 9 p.m. and the staff was gone before the accident, according to assistant manager David White.

Responding police officers found the Jeep lying on its roof on the lanai of Lemongrass Grill Seafood and Bar. The Jeep sustained major damages but the driver, the only occupant in the car, made his way out of the vehicle unharmed. He was released on a $250 bail.

How he survived is beyond me, White said Friday. He landed upside down with the front of the Jeep inside the patio sliding doors that were taken out, and part of the rock wall.

The accident was bizarre, White said, and he can only assume that the driver swerved and that the car overturned as a result of going over curbing and slid though the rock wall.

I am not sure how it happened, he added.

The restaurant, 4-871 Kuhio Highway, sustained damages to a rock wall, glass doors, tables, chairs and decorative items. An estimate of the damages wasnt available Friday afternoon.

It was more clean up that anything where the Jeep came into the entrance to the patio, White said of the damages. As far the building, there was a lot of glass but its all cleaned up.

The police department said the investigation is ongoing.

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Jeep overturns onto Lemongrass patio