Not A Drive-Thru: Car Plows Into Cheyenne Subway — A Fourth Time

CHEYENNE — Ladonnia Miller loves her job making sandwiches at the Subway outlet at the busy intersection of East Lincolnway and Converse Avenue. 

She’s bubbly, pleasant, and said she wants to be as accommodating as possible for customers. 

If she has one gripe, it’s the people who keep hitting the Subway building with their cars.

“The car ran fairly straight through the intersection and right into us,” she said Monday about the Sunday morning crash that put a gray Ford Fusion through the northwest corner of the building.

It’s the fourth time that the Subway assistant manager can remember a car plowing into that corner of the building, which is mostly glass.

“We’ve had it happen three other times,” she said. “I don’t know why, but people just keep driving right into the building.

“I guess they don’t know we don’t have a drive-thru.”

Cuts Into Business

The crash happened early Sunday morning and kept the sandwich shop at 2301 E. Lincolnway closed for the day, Miller said, adding she was scheduled to work.

It reopened Monday with plywood covering the damage left by the car, which caused no injuries, she said.

Along with the windows, the car broke through a short brick wall that supports them and pushed the frame into the building several inches.

The crash will also impact business beyond Sunday’s closure, Miller said. 

The restaurant’s small dining room is closed until the damage can be fixed, she said. That means there are only four seats at two small tables available for in-store dining in front of the main counter.

“Obviously, it makes us a lot slower for business,” Miller said. “We’re getting more online orders, it seems. But yes, it’s impacted us, for sure.”

The timing of Sunday’s crash also makes it seem as though the building has a target on it, Miller said.

That’s because the front door had just been fixed the day before, after last week’s record-breaking windstorm ripped it off.

Déjà Vu

The crash happened when the driver of the Ford Fusion swerved to avoid a white Jeep that failed to yield while making a left turn at the intersection, the Cheyenne Police Department reports, citing video evidence from cameras in the area.

As the Jeep began turning, the Ford swerved to avoid it and hit the Subway. The Jeep continued driving and didn't stop.

"Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported," the CPD reports. "The driver of the Ford had a minor injuury but declined transport to the hospital. There were no customers inside the restaurant at the time."

Impairmant is not considered a contributing factor in the crash at this time.

Work is already underway to fix the Subway, said Mike Smith with B&W Glass, who was at the store Monday morning taking measurements and examining the damage.

He said he felt a little bit of déjà vu because this isn’t the first time he’s fixed that corner of the sandwich shop after a car hit it.

“We’ve been here before — same corner,” Smith said. “Last time, it was here on this other side of the corner.”

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.