Flintridge Bookstore Damaged in Fatal Truck Crash

An out-of-control 18-wheeler barreled through an intersection in La Canada, California, on Wednesday, April 1, and smashed several vehicles before crashing into Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse. Two motorists were killed and at least a dozen people were injured. No one in the bookstore was harmed.

Flintridge bookstore will be closed for an indefinite period, said owner Peter Wannier. "I have no idea when we'll be able to reopen," he said. "My aim is to get back into business. Whether that's in this building or another building I just don't know."

Wannier described the current condition of the bookstore. "A truck about 80 feet long, loaded with SUVs entirely embedded itself in the store. Pieces of cars that were demolished along the way are embedded in our wall. It cleared a path about 20 feet wide and 100 feet long. It just totaled everything in its path."

"I had about two or three seconds to get out of the way," said Wannier. "I saw which direction the truck was headed, and I headed the other direction. And it all happened much faster than it took to say these three sentences."

La Canada Flintridge officials have wrangled with California Department of Transportation since a similar accident took place in September. At that time no one was killed. "The city tried to get big rigs off the highway, and warned that something like this would happen again," said Wannier. "Maybe now they'll do something."

The driver of the truck has been arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter, according to ABC.com. --Karen Schechner