Van Smashes into Solano Ave. Deli – Misses Customer by Seconds

A van driven by an elderly man smashed into the front of Zarri's Delicatessen on Solano Avenue in Albany this afternoon, Monday. There were no apparent serious injuries.

The driver – a man in his 90s from Oakland – was transported to a local hospital, but he did not appear to be seriously hurt, siad Albany Police Officer Michael Larrick. 


About 2:30 p.m., the van, which was going east on Solano, drove up on the sidewalk in front of Happy Produce, which is next to Zarri's, witnesses said. It went between two sidewalk trees, stripping bark off of one, smashed a city trash can, ran over a sidewalk table and chairs where a Zarri's customer had been sitting seconds before and walloped the front of the deli.

The impact smashed a large plate glass window and exteriors tiles on wall beneath the window, pushed the wall part way in and damaged one of the front doors and food cold-storage case. 

"I'm just thankful nobody got hurt," said Zarri's owner John Fealy.

A woman who had been eating a Zarri's sandwich on the sidewalk table directly in front of the where the van hit the deli had just finished her sandwich and gotten up to leave immediately before the impact, Fealy said.

"She got up just seconds before," he said. Two chairs and the table where she was sitting were broken into pieces. 

Three customers at the other sidewalk table in front of the deli saw the van coming and leapt up, Fealy said. Their table wasn't hit.

Also smashed was a large front window at Happy Produce next door, where another woman escaped possible injury by only a few minutes, said Adrianna Contreras, daughter of owner Maria Valencia. The customer had been sitting in front of the window but had moved shortly before the crash to bring a bag to her daughter who was shopping in the store, Contreras said.

The Happy Produce window apparently was smashed by the trash can that was hit by the van, Contreras said.

The van driver said the vehicle's accelerator got stuck, Larrick said. Larrick did not see evidence of the accelerator having been stuck, he said.

There was a female passenger in the van who complained of a hurt wrist, Larrick said. She accompanied the driver to the hospital as a passenger in the ambulance, according to the Albany Fire Department.

The driver appeared to have some swelling on one side of his face and a possible cut from glass, Contreras said. "He got out and was shaking," she said.

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