By Phil Caruso & Will Ashenmacher
Police and Marquette authorities were not releasing information as of Monday on the driver of the car that crashed into the Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich Shop, 1532 W. Wells St., Saturday night. Nor are they releasing the names or specific information on the four Marquette students injured in the accident.
According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the car swerved to avoid a pedestrian crossing West Wells Street at North 16th Street. The driver then went out of control and crashed through the front door of Jimmy John's, seriously injuring four students and causing minor injuries to several more people. The accident occurred around 6:30 p.m.
Anne E. Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Police Department, would not comment on whether drugs or alcohol were involved in the accident.
"That's going to take a while because we do toxicology, and that takes weeks," Schwartz said. Toxicology refers to a series of tests performed to determine if drugs, alcohol or other substances are found in a person's body, she said.
Mary Pat Pfeil, senior director of university communication, said the driver, a male, was not affiliated with Marquette.
The four Marquette students injured in the accident have been treated at local hospitals and released. Marquette will not release their names, according to university spokeswoman Brigid O'Brien Miller.
The male pedestrian who was crossing the street — eyewitness accounts differ on which side of 16th Street it was — was cited for jaywalking Monday morning, according to Capt. Russ Shaw, assistant director of the Department of Public Safety.
Jimmy John's reopened with a temporary door at 5 p.m. Monday and was met with average business, according to owner Matt Freeman. He said he lost a table and about six chairs, which will cost him about $1,500 to replace. Marquette owns the building in which Jimmy John's is located, so they will be paying for a permanent replacement for the door, Freeman said.
Eyewitness Chris Mermigas, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, was standing on the corner of 16th and Wells streets Saturday night when the car went through the doors of Jimmy John's. Mermigas said he then ran into the restaurant to see what happened.
"There was a guy pinned between the car and the wall," Mermigas said. "We helped him free, but he couldn't stand on his own, so we propped him against the wall."
Eyewitness Russell Wright, a deliveryman for Angelo's Pizza, 1601 W. Wells St., said he was near the accident when it occurred and he heard tires squeal shortly before the car crashed into Jimmy John's.
"The car came through the intersection (of Wells and 16th streets), made a sharp left to avoid hitting a pedestrian, then made a sharp right, then turned into Jimmy John's," Wright said. "The glass doors just exploded."
Danielle McNett, a freshman in the College of Health Sciences, and Maegan Kirchen, a freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, said they were sitting in a parked van across the street from Jimmy John's when they saw the car jump the curb and crash through the Jimmy John's door.
"I was in a state of disbelief," McNett said. She and Kirchen were on their way out to dinner when the accident occurred.
Dustin Sadler, an employee at Papa John's Pizza, 1618 W. Wells St., was standing on the southwest corner of the intersection of 16th and Wells streets just before the accident when he heard a car's tires screech.
"The car came through the intersection and swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian then made a sharp left then a right, into Jimmy John's," he said.
Veronica Cogswell, a junior in the College of Communication, was in her Campus Town East apartment above Jimmy John's when the accident occurred. She said she felt the blow of the accident.
"I told everyone to get out of the apartment," Cogswell said. "A DPS officer told me that the car hit the main frame of the building."
At least three ambulances, six DPS vehicles, a Milwaukee Fire Department truck and a City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works truck reported to the scene.
The 1500 block of West Wells Street was quickly blocked off from traffic by DPS cars. Crime scene tape was strung between the tree wells on the side of the street opposite Jimmy John's to prevent onlookers from getting too close to the accident.
The accident created a surreal scene on the block. Shards of glass strewn across the sidewalk were lit by the neon red signs in the undamaged Jimmy John's windows. The blue and red flicker of emergency vehicles' lights illuminated the crowd of onlookers gathering in the deepening twilight.
Many members of the crowd, which was mostly made up of Marquette students, whipped out digital cameras or used their cell phones to take pictures or video footage of the scene of the accident.
Although they did not enter the cordoned-off area, onlookers mostly disobeyed requests from DPS officers and other workers to keep moving and stay away from the scene.
This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on September 20, 2005.