Nine Injured, None Killed in Cafe Car Crash [Update with Photos, Video]

Update, Aug. 19

Samuel Leighton, 92, was formally charged this morning at 8:14 with reckless endangerment and reckless driving for driving his 2003 Honda Civic into the Ooh-La-La Cafe last week.

In other Cafe Ooh-La-La news, Dewayne Carey, 51, was recently charged with burglarizing the establishment. Carey is allegedly a former employee that was recently fired.

Update: 11:00 p.m.

Stamford police have identified Samuel Leighton of Stamford as the driver of a 2003 Honda Civic that drove directly into the 2275 Summer Street's Ooh-la-la Cafe at 12:34 Monday afternoon, injuring ten customers.

In an SPD press release, Sgt. Robert Monck states that Leighton drove onto the sidewalk in front of the café, "striking two women who were sitting at a table in front."

According to Monck, Leighton's vehicle then drove through the front window of the cafe, striking numerous other customers until it crashed against the service counter, halting it. 

"Ten customers from the café were taken to the hospital to be treated for various injuries ranging from lacerations to broken bones," Monck states.

The Stamford Police Department has made it clear that the situation is still under investigation. The names of those injured or the extent of their injuries has not been released.

Update: 2:20 p.m.

Editor's Note: Vehicle type has been changed to reflect new information supplied by the Stamford Police Department.

Nine people were injured in a accident at Cafe Ooh-la-la in which the eldery driver of a Honda Civic drove onto the sidewalk in front of the cafe and then through the Ridgeway Shopping Center cafe. No one is in critical condition, according to Sgt. Robert Monck of the Stamford Police Department.

"It appears that an elderly gentleman was driving into the parking lot, it appears that he was confused," Monck said. "He might've hit the gas instead of the brake. The car went up on the curb and through the restaurant."

According to police, the accident occured around 1 p.m., and most of the injured were customers of the cafe, located at 2275 Summer St., and not cafe staff.

All of those injured have been sent to Stamford Hospital for treatment, though police could not provide information on the severity of each victim's injuries, the names of any of the victims or the name of the driver, who was also injured in the accident and taken to Stamford Hospital.

"Right now, it's in the preliminary stages of investigation," Monck said.

Original Story

Police, firefighters and paramedics rushed Monday afternoon to Stamford's Ridgeway Shopping Center, where several people are being taken away in ambulances after a car apparently crashed into a cafe.

Eyewitnesses report that an older man who needed help backing out of a handicapped parking space near Staples may have accelerated forward accidentally, driving over a light pole before crashing through the glass front of .

P.J. Griswold, 31, of Stamford, said he spotted several people trying to help an older man who had inadvertently driven his car onto a sidewalk under a west-facing awning at Staples. After getting food nearby, Griswold said he returned to the Ridgeway parking lot to see the destruction done.

"He must have accelerated to take down that pole," Griswold, surrounded by bystanders lined up against yellow police tape, including one man with blood on his shirt, said and pointed to a heavy steel pole that had been taken down.

Emergency responders are administering to injured people. The extent of those injuries is not yet known. Patch will have more details as they become available.