SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) – A man driving a truck drove between several cars and the side of a gastropub shortly before midnight on Wednesday.
The incident, which was captured on video, took place at the new Johnny Black’s Taphouse location on 22 Mile and Schoenner in Shelby Township.
The man drove onto the sidewalk and crashed into a row of cars parked right outside the bar and grill, scraping against the building itself too.
Alcohol does not seem to be a factor, but narcotics were possibly in the driver’s system, according to the Shelby Township public information officer.
Police believe the man may have been experiencing a mental health crisis.
“He was never a patron in the building,” said the operating manager at Johnny Black’s Taphouse, Ed Firestine. “The only reason we noticed is because our patrons that were outside, trying to leave, noticed there was a man driving volatilely all over the parking lot.”
Witnesses say the man slammed into other cars in the parking lot before driving onto the sidewalk.
The driver was taken to a local hospital and has been charged.
“He was just shouting things,” Firestine said. “People were obviously nervous and scared because the natural tendency is going to be for people to be afraid.”
As of Thursday night, business is as usual at Johnny Black’s Taphouse.
Some customers were surprised to find out what had happened.
“Ehat would have happened if there were more people out here and someone came through at this time, not at midnight, but at this time?” said one customer, Tom Torchia.
“Thankfully no one was hurt over it, because that could have been a really bad situation,” another customer, Mark Torchia, added. “Especially with the things that you see nowadays that go on in our world.”