Driver injured when his SUV crashes into empty storefront in Plymouth

PLYMOUTH — A driver was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after their vehicle crashed into a vacant storefront at Hatch Plaza, and authorities believe it was caused by a medical emergency.

According to Interim Police Chief Nate Buffington, at about 8:52 p.m. on Oct. 31, officers responded to 389 Tenney Mountain Hwy for a report of a car hitting a building. The vacant storefront was between the Sherwin-Williams Paint Store and MedCheck Urgent Care, at the former location of Olympia Sports.

According to a report by Deputy Fire Chief Dan Doucette, firefighters are the scene found a vehicle had struck the building, and caused “significant damage” to both the building and vehicle.

First responders removed the sole occupant, who Police Sgt. Bryan Keeler said was a 32-year-old man from the Plymouth area, and transported him to Speare Memorial Hospital.

“Damage to the structure was evaluated," and the area was closed, "to protect bystanders from walking through the damaged area,” Doucette wrote in a prepared statement. “The store front that received damage, located in the middle of the complex, luckily is not occupied and given the time of day there were no pedestrians or other vehicles in the path of travel, minimizing the risk of additional casualties.”

The plaza is a shopping center with several businesses, including busy stores like Hannaford Supermarket and Marshall’s on each end. The parking lot is often filled with vehicles and people walking with shopping carts coming to and from the stores. Between this, and it being on Halloween night, Buffington was thankful the situation wasn’t worse.

“This was a vacant store, and thankfully all the surrounding businesses were closed at that point,” Buffington said.

The driver was alone in the vehicle, and theirs was the only reported injury from the crash. No other vehicles were involved, according to Buffington.

Photographs by Zac Stoppe, who arrived just after the accident, show a gray Mazda CX9 smashed into a building, causing heavy front-end damage to the vehicle, as well as to the building. Bricks that came off the building’s siding were seen scattered next to a beam that had been bent, and the glass of the storefront had been shattered.

The hood of the vehicle was crushed, the airbag was deployed, and the driver’s side wheel was ripped off.

Stoppe said he noticed flashing lights, and that the roofline of the building didn’t look right as he was driving by, so he decided to stop for a better look.

“I got there as they were pulling the guy out of the car and loading him in the ambulance,” Stoppe said on Monday. “I was estimating he had to be going at least 40 miles per hour to have the beam bend like that, and the front wheel break off the car. Cars have crumple zones, but that was a lot of crumpling.”

Hatch Plaza is owned by Summit Realty Partners, a commercial real estate brokerage from Lexington, Massachusetts. Attempts to reach President Frank Normandin and Vice President Travis Ginsberg were unsuccessful, and a voicemail was not returned by press time.

Sherwin-Williams, several feet from where the accident occurred, was unaffected by the accident, and was open for business on Monday.

Plymouth Police and Fire departments, as well as State Police, responded to the scene, and crews stayed for about an hour to remove the vehicle and assess damage to the building.

The cause of the accident is under investigation by the Plymouth Police Department, but Keeler said early indications show it was due to a medical emergency. Keeler said police spoke to witnesses at the scene of the crash, and their statements lead this direction.

“Everything from the investigation so far appears that there may have been a medical event that ultimately caused the crash,” Keeler said.

No charges have been filed in the incident.