Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 23, 1994 TAG: 9403230100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I was standing at the ovens with my back turned to the door," said Art Pursel, the store's manager, "and it sounded like an explosion went off."
The sound was caused by a car smashing through the front wall of the store. After leaving a gaping hole in the wall, destroying a portion of the store's counter, and knocking over a drink machine and an industrial-size tub of pizza sauce, the car came to rest a few feet from where Pursel stood.
James W. Harper Jr., the uninjured driver of the car, said he had just started home after stopping at a grocery store across the street from the Green Ridge Center for a bottle of Coke and a couple of packs of Kool-Aid.
According to Harper, 32, of Barnett Circle Northwest, the vehicle lost its brakes on a hill when he was leaving the grocery store's parking lot.
"I kept on trying to stop it, but the car just would not stop for me," he said.
The vehicle continued down the hill, went untouched across all four lanes of Peters Creek Road, shot up an embanked entrance to the one-story strip mall, jumped a sidewalk and finally stopped after going through the wall of the Domino's.
"When I got out of the car, I just started asking everybody if they were OK," Harper said. "I tried to steer the car toward the end [of the shopping center] so I wouldn't hurt anybody."
One Domino's employee, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital, police said.
Pursel said several workers - but no customers - were inside the store at the time of the accident, which occurred just before 7:30 p.m.
"We're going to be closed for a couple of days," he said.
Officer T.B. Bandy of the Roanoke Police Department said Harper was charged with driving a car with faulty brakes.
Harper said he hasn't been driving for very long after being severely beaten in the head in 1991. He said he had to learn to walk and to speak again.
According to a July 1991 Roanoke Times & World-News article, Harper was found by police lying face down in a pool of blood in the 1200 block of Loudon Avenue Northwest.
by CNB