Out of control driver crashes into North St. Louis store causing $100,000 in damages
An out of control driver crashed into North St. Louis store
By Melanie Johnson
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ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — A North City business owner is forced pay for a New Year’s Day mess after a reckless driver slammed into his store.
“It jumped the sidewalk and it crashed into my store front,” JB’s Wireless owner, Jonathan Borrum said. “I was just astonished. I didn’t think the car would jump the curb, but it did.”
The accident happened on Grand Boulevard around 10 a.m. on the first morning of 2023.
Borrum said the newly renovated storefront will cost more than $100,000 to fix. The driver did not have insurance.
“He apologized. He said he was going too fast. He said the car had poor tires,” he said.
News 4 reached out to the area’s alderman. As a result, concrete blocks will now be installed in front of Borrum’s store to prevent the same incident from happening again.
“That’s the least they can do,” Borrum said. “They can help us to protect our investment. Especially with all these drivers driving erratically as they are.”
The mayor’s office believes a new bill waiting for board of aldermen approval will be the solution.
According to the city, Board Bill 120 would spend $14.5 million on revamping streets notorious for reckless driving such as Union, Goodfellow, Jefferson, Grand and Kingshighway.
“Help is on the way. We are working on a long-term and short-term solution to address reckless driving in high crash areas,” mayoral spokesperson, Nick Desideri, said.
“They are more in tuned with the people in South St. Louis than they are in North City. It’s definitely disheartening, and we hope somebody looks into it,” Borrum said.
“We are recognizing that discrepancy and working to reduce that disparity. That’s why we need to work towards a citywide master transportation mobility plan that takes all our neighborhoods into account. Not just a select few,” Desideri said.
The new street improvement bill has yet to make it to the aldermanic floor. If it passes, an additional $16 million will go towards new traffic designs, safety improvements to the worst crash locations and developing a universal transportation master plan for the city.
“We need help on this North side just as much as you’re giving them help on the South side,” Borrum said.
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