Vehicle Rams Steakhouse, Four Persons Injured

A woman who drove her car into the front of J& B’s Steakhouse Friday injuring four people has been referred for mental health assessment following an investigation by the Vidalia Police Department. continued from page

Investigator Christopher Morgan said the woman, whose name is being withheld because of medical privacy issues, has not been charged in the incident.

The four persons inside the steakhouse who were transported to Memorial Health Meadows Hospital for evaluation and treatment apparently sustained only minor injuries, Morgan said.

Morgan reported that the woman entered the VPD headquarters in the Vidalia Municipal Complex on First Street around 6:30 p.m. and appeared to be in distress. The subject was screaming for help, and officers attempted to assist her and to determine the nature of her complaint. He said that the subject, who was sitting in the front office of the police station, eventually calmed down, but as officers left to make phone calls, the woman became agitated again and began tearing items from the walls of the station. The woman pulled the fire alarm, then ran from the building and was able to reach her car before officers could stop her. She proceeded to back her car into the former Taco Bell building that is located in the Municipal Complex parking lot and across from the police department, then drove forward into the steakhouse, which is located in the same parking lot and is adjacent to the police station.

Morgan said the steakhouse received substantial damage.

BUSINESS TAKES A HIT — Wrecker operators work to remove a vehicle lodged in the front of J&B’s Steakhouse last Friday. A woman drove her vehicle into the front of the steakhouse injuring four people.Photo by Makaylee Randolph