Shocking video of car slamming into South Philly cheesesteak shop

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - "Saturday morning, I wake up and I get a text from my manager to check this video out," said Edward Brennan. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw surveillance video from his business, Shank’s Original Philly Cheesesteak, on South Columbus Boulevard, in South Philly.

"I open it up and a guy drives his car straight into the side of the building," said Brennan.

The video shows an SUV come from Columbus Boulevard onto the curved roadway toward Shank’s but the driver veers off the road onto the sidewalk and patio of the eatery.

"He hit the corner of the building and what it did was the entire front wall kind of shifted about an inch or two. So, it shifted so much that we weren't even able to open the front door," said Brennan.

An employee who checks security camera video each morning before coming into work to open up saw the mess on the patio and looked further back at the video and discovered the crash. Brennan says it happened just before 1:30 last Saturday morning. He says the video later shows the driver get out of the car, sit down and walk around on the property before taking off.

"He gets back in his car, then checks out the damage and gets back in his car. He just sat there for about a half an hour," said Brennan.

He hopes someone knows something about the crash.

Brennan says the car appears to be a newer model Lincoln SUV, based on the emblem on the front.

"The person who did it should be the one that's responsible for the damages and not my insurance or building owner's insurance. And honestly, really, he could have killed somebody that night," said Brennan.

He filed a police report and said they are open for business and that L&I came out to make sure the building is structurally sound despite the damage.

FOX 29 is waiting for more details of the police investigation.