Injuries, possible fatalities, barely avoided as white van careens onto local sidewalk
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-Photo courtesy of Jim Costello
A white van wreaked havoc on one of Dayton's Main Street sidewalks, taking out this bistro table and chairs, a wayfarer sign and damaging the building that houses Locally Nourished and Wenaha Gallery on the 200 block of Dayton's Main Street.
DAYTON–The "would-haves" that fortunately didn't occur are chilling as police search for a white van and its driver which barged through unoccupied sidewalk-café bistro tables and chairs, wiped out signage, struck and damaged a building and a tree, and narrowly missed apartment occupants as the entered the doorway to the staircase in the 200 block of Main Street last Thursday.
Witnesses observed a white van leave the street and drive eastbound on the sidewalk in front of Paige's Floral and Gifts at 207 E. Main Street, the under-renovation former Frontier Too, Locally Nourished café at 217 E. Main Street, and Wenaha Gallery, 291 E. Main Street. The vehicle is said to have stopped just short of causing major damage to the sidewalk railing in front of the Weinhard Hotel, although some paint on the railing was scuffed and the metal dented.
Deputies are investigating the location of the vehicle and identity of the driver, said a Columbia County Sheriff's Office spokesman. One witness obtained the license plate number of the van so deputies know the registered owner but as of press deadline were not releasing further information about the incident. There is an indication that Walla Walla County Sheriff's Office deputies may have information of the vehicle's whereabouts, but that information is unconfirmed.
"Paige [Aukerman] heard a loud noise," recalled Laura Aukerman, who with Paige owns and operates the floral and gift shop. She estimated the incident occurred around 9:30 to 10 a.m.
They stepped out the front door and saw that a vehicle had run over a pole and had driven onto the sidewalk. "It was going pretty fast down the sidewalk," Laura Aukerman said.
By then, other shop keepers were stepping outside to see what the commotion was about.
-Chronicle photo
The suspect vehicle struck the exterior of 217 E. Main Street with significant force, gouging the woodwork and the plaster columns. A bistro table and two chairs had been located at about this place, and were fortunately unoccupied.
"The van...I don't even know if it was a he or a she...stopped at the outdoor-seating patio of the Weinhard Hotel," Aukerman said. She then started toward the van, considering that the driver might be experiencing a medical emergency while behind the wheel and unable to control it.
"The vehicle then took off," Aukerman said. "I thought 'oh, my goodness. This is a hit and run.' Once I saw it was a hit-and-run, I wanted to get a look at the driver."
Aukerman said the van passed the Weinhard, cut down its parking lot, and went the opposite way down the alley [westbound], nearly hitting another vehicle, before fleeing northbound on 1st Street.
She shuddered to think of the tragedy that was narrowly missed. "A lady with a young child had just unlocked the door into the upstairs apartment," Aukerman said, "when the vehicle went by. Also, he hit tables in front of Locally Nourished and if the weather had been nicer, people would have been sitting there."
