Antioch fire chief says driver injured after truck crashed through grocery store on Main Street

ANTIOCH, Ill. (WLS) -- Antioch fire officials said a car crashed through a building on Main Street Tuesday afternoon.

Chopper7 was over the scene in the 900 block of Main Street after a truck plowed into Polson's Natural Foods.

"Just heard a roar and a crash and stuff was flying everywhere," said owner Mark Polson.

Polson was one of four people inside his family's longstanding grocery store and just about 10 feet out of the driver's path.

"I had my phone in my hand calling for 911. Other people had come in trying to check on the driver," he said.

Firefighters said the pickup's driver was speeding north down Main Street when he inexplicably took out a utility pole, shearing it off at the base, and smashed through the Dairy Queen's outdoor seating on a hot summer afternoon.

"The lucky part is at 5 o'clock at night in front of Dairy Queen there's usually six tables full of kids, parents. There was nobody there and we were so grateful no one was injured," said Fire Chief Jon Cokefair.

Fire officials said the driver of the car had to be extricated from his vehicle by first responders. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment, where his condition stabilized.

The crash left Polson and the building that's been in his family for nearly a century a little shaky.

The power is cut and now that it's been boarded up, structural engineers will come to evaluate if the building is safe to repair.

Police are investigating why the driver went speeding off the road and into the building.