Damage left behind inside the Eastern United Insurance of Lago Mar after a car crashed through the glass front doors Saturday, June 16, 2012. (Source: Jackie Ordonez)
South Florida Crime
WEST KENDALL (CBS4) – A West Kendall insurance agency is temporarily closed after someone drove their car right through the front entrance of the office.
The owner of the business, located at 15766 SW 72nd Street, said the driver left the scene and her passenger may have been injured.
“She jumped the curb, hit the vehicle parked here, she came directly through my front door and my side glass window, and she drove about 10 feet inside,” said business owner Jaime Ordoñez.
Ordoñez owns Eastern United Insurance of Lago Mar in West Kendall. He’s been in business since 2003.
He said he got a call around 11:00 a.m. Saturday from his security company that something was wrong at his business.
Luckily, Ordoñez wasn’t there at the time and neither were any customers. The office is usually open on Saturday, but Ordoñez chose to close it this weekend to spend the Father’s Day holiday with his wife and three young sons.
“Thank god he decided to take the day off today of all days and he wasn’t here,” his wife, Jackie Ordoñez, explained.
Other business in the shopping plaza were open at the time, including the Dollar Tree next door.
“I was sitting in my office when I heard a loud boom,” Dollar Tree manager Pat Ross said.
He said he was outside in moments, but the driver had already left the scene.
“I came out. The car was already gone. So I tried to call the police,” Ross said.
Witnesses described the car to police as a late model silver or gray Toyota Corolla with a temporary tag starting with the letters “A-T”.
They say the driver was a woman and that her passenger, believed to be an elderly female, may have been hurt in the accident.
Ordoñez filed a police report and is asking body shops in the area to keep an eye out for a car matching the description with heavy front-end damage.
Other employees in the shopping center hope the case is resolved quickly.
“Hopefully they’ll find the lady,” Ross said. “Because they should have stayed.”
Ordoñez said repairs will run him about $8,000, not including the cost of lost business.
“It’s also going to close my business down for some time,” he said. “We’re boarded up. We might be up and running in two or three days, maybe a week. But that’s time off and obviously I’ve got to feed a family. I got three kids at home.”
Ordoñez said the glass will be replaced Monday. In the meantime, he plans on hiring a private security guard to watch his business overnight.
