Shop in Oakland Ravaged in Spectacular Crash
In Oakland's San Antonio neighborhood, a harrowing incident unfolded as a car veered to avoid another vehicle and crashed into Turbo Auto Body, causing extensive damage to the establishment. Enoch Shin, one of the owners of the auto-body shop situated near 18th Avenue and International Boulevard, expressed his anguish, stating that their building was entirely ruined, necessitating its demolition and reconstruction.
The collision occurred around 8:20 p.m. on a Tuesday when a woman, driving a Honda Civic eastward on International Boulevard in violation of the bus lane, swerved to evade a minivan that seemed to be making an illegal U-turn in front of her, as per authorities' accounts. The Honda Civic subsequently lost control and collided with the auto-body shop, leading to the collapse of its roof.
Emergency services arrived promptly to provide medical care to the injured woman inside the Honda. Astonishingly, the driver of the minivan responsible for the initial collision completed the U-turn and fled the scene. Oakland's traffic officers are actively investigating the incident, while the police are maintaining vigilance around the shop.
Surveillance footage captured this chain-reaction crash, which concluded with the Honda Civic crashing into Turbo Auto Body near 18th & International, causing the roof to cave in. Owners of the establishment attribute part of the blame to the city's decision to reduce International Boulevard to a single lane for vehicles, converting the other lane into a bus-only thoroughfare. This alteration has led to a rise in accidents and high-speed driving, with vehicles reaching speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour, according to Shin.
At the time of the accident, the shop was closed, and approximately 12 cars inside the garage remained undamaged. However, the situation is dire for the shop's staff as the business has been red-tagged, and PG&E has disconnected power. Enoch Shin emphasized the urgency of restoring power to avoid layoffs for the 28 employees who may be forced to stay home.
For the Shin family, who have operated the business for over three decades, the future appears uncertain. Luke Shin, Enoch's nephew, summed up the heartache, remarking on how they had built a thriving business from nothing, only to see it taken away in an instant.
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