Video Captures SUV Crashing Through Window of Evergreen Park Restaurant

Evergreen Park, IL -- Three men having a meeting at an Evergreen Park restaurant walked away with their lives after an SUV came barrelling through the restaurant’s front window hitting the table they were sitting at.

Andres Deleon, a food photographer and social media consultant, submitted a terrifying video of a Hyundai that crashed into Bubba’s Famous Fried Chicken, a family-owned restaurant located at 2511 W. 95th St., Evergreen Park, around 12:10 p.m. June 23.

Deleon said he was sitting with the owner and manager, Moe Jaber, discussing editing for a promotional video.

“Our backs were to the window. All of a sudden we were blindsided and thrown against the wall,” Deleon said. “I went straight up. The manager, Jaber, flew back 40 feet into the tables.”

Deleon believes the framing that holds the window and glass, which was still intact after the crash, and the restaurant’s non-skid floor slowed the vehicle’s momentum. He thought the manager, Jaber, was dead because the vehicle ran him over.

“I was covered with tables and debris,” he said. “I thought Moe was dead, then I heard him say, ‘I’m here.’”

Jaber was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released for minor injuries. All of the men were showered with glass that went down inside their clothes.

Deleon says a catering sign acted as a rail shielding him and the other man. Unfortunately, the sign guided the car in Jaber’s direction.

“The police told us vehicles crashing through storefronts and other buildings happens more often than they’d care to admit,” Delon said.

The driver, an older man with a veteran’s license plate, was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, according to reports on Police 2 Citizen (P2C) website.

“We felt bad for the driver. We understand accidents happen,” Deleon said. “We’d love to buy him and his wife dinner. No hard feelings.”