Driver Slams Pickup Into Cantonment Business

June 15, 2013

A driver slammed his pickup truck into a Cantonment business early Saturday morning.

The accident happened about 12:55 a.m. on Jacks Branch Road just north of Annie Bell Drive. The driver apparently lost control of his pickup truck, ran off the roadway where the vehicle overturned onto its side and collided with Al’s Small Engine Repair at 652 Jacks Branch Road.

The pickup truck pushed into the corner of the concrete block building causing severe damage to the building and its electrical service panel. The driver was not seriously injured and refused transport to the hospital by EMS.

The wreck was called into 911 by a resident at a nearby home that heard the crash.

The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details have not yet been released. The Cantonment Station of Escambia Fire Rescue and Escambia County EMS also responded to the crash.

Pictured above and inset: A driver collided with a business in Cantonment early Saturday morning. Pictured below: One entire corner of the building was destroyed. Reader submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.


Comments

15 Responses to “Driver Slams Pickup Into Cantonment Business”

  1. Amber lee on June 19th, 2013 4:29 pm

    The driver passed the roadside DUI test and breathalyzer. He simply fell asleep behind the wheel after a long day of traveling. This was an ACCIDENT!

  2. kathy on June 17th, 2013 12:10 pm

    REALLY!!!!! I am NOT surprised! Everyday I tell my husband and daughter that if I ever die in a traffic accident it will be on our road. JACKS BRANCH! The problem really does lie with the fact that drivers go waayyy too fast not just on the straight aways but definitely in the curves! Hardly a day goes by that I am either on my way to or from work that I have someone cross the center line (or lines if it’s a double solid line) and I have to react. Just slow down. There are speed limits out there for a reason!

  3. B. Phillips on June 17th, 2013 11:01 am

    Here’s the problem, and I just don’t understand it. As much as the people that live in this area have complained about what goes on out here the ECSO just seems to ignor it. How many accidents or deaths are going to have to happen before the Escambia County Police start making thier present know on Jacks Branch Rd? Is it on your list of places that you don’t care about in Escambia County what goes on? My wife was almost involed in a head-on last week on Jacks Branch Rd. It had nothing to do with the condition of the road. Two vehicals racing side by side, coming down a hill with double yellow lines. She had to hit her brakes and get of the road to avoid these drunken idiots. If the ECSO does’nt get control of the under age, and some over age, drinking at Fillingim Landing and The Pipes someone may die on Jacks Branch Rd. any day now. So, ECSO, get out here and do what we pay for you to do, IT’S YOUR JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B.P.

  4. PWS on June 16th, 2013 6:11 pm

    This is a very dangerous road, very narrow road, be careful when driving on this road.

  5. Thomas on June 16th, 2013 4:16 pm

    Wow. Ive spoken to Al on a few occasions, this is not the time of year to have this kind of thing happen in this business, this is our busy season and it will be gone before we know it. Shame this happened, hope everyone was okay.

  6. Lance Allen on June 15th, 2013 10:05 pm

    Thanks for the kind words about my dad.

  7. MMK on June 15th, 2013 8:03 pm

    I agree with the post by “Naenae”. I have lived on this road for a long time too. This was my brother-in law’s shop and I live about a block from it and its so sad that a person that has worked so hard and helped so many people has to go through this because of someone ’s careless driving.

  8. melodies4us on June 15th, 2013 7:08 pm

    Poor Al. He is a great repairman for lawn mowers. I hope this doesn’t discourage him into closing. I could always rely on Al to do a good job at a fair price.

  9. William on June 15th, 2013 11:16 am

    >>>strange how you get the name of the drive in all the other accidents,but not this one

    Names are included in accident stories when the Florida Highway Patrol sends them out in a media release. Sometimes that happens before the wrecker pulls away the vehicle, sometimes it’s a few hours later, a few days later or never. In this case, no media release has been issued by the FHP as of the time of this comment.

  10. Melissa on June 15th, 2013 10:17 am

    Thank the Lord there was no serious injuries.4 months ago I moved back to Cantonment. I have observed so many wrecks. Careless mistakes, and poor judgement more like it. My guess is everyone thinks out here, ” Cantonment , Molino” it is basically the country No city limits and they can get away with driving 30 miles over the speed limit and breaking other laws as well. But what they do not stop and think about, is by doing so there is consequences for any and all actions. The man/woman driving the pick up truck pictured above, Maybe he/she just wanted that adrenalin rush, to see how fast the truck could go, And look what happened. He / She could of lost their life. They put the owners of the small engine repair shop thousands of dollars in the rear, not only now do they have to hire someone to repair their business but they also have to call all customers and inform them that there was a set back and the promised date will have to be longer than expected. Which could result in losing those customers. Whatever happened is under investigations. I hope the driver will make better decisions next time and I also send my prayers to everyone involved.

  11. Naenae on June 15th, 2013 9:24 am

    I live on Jacks Branch Rd and have for 15 or so years, and if people would do the dang speed limit instead of using our Rd as a race track, MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, there wouldn’t be so many accidents out here. Don’t blame it on Jacks Branch, put the blame where it belongs, ON THE DRIVERS, THEY are the IDIOTS that choose to drive like their on Talledega SuperSpeedway, out here. I’ve had to call the police on a few myself. PEOPLE JUST DON’T USE COMMON SENSE WHEN DRIVING ON OUR ROAD, OR MAYBE IT’S JUST THEY LACK THE COMMON SENSE THAT IT TAKES TO BE A RESPONSIBLE DRIVER!!!!!!

  12. No name strange on June 15th, 2013 8:50 am

    strange how you get the name of the drive in all the other accidents,but not this one HHuuuummmmmm?

  13. DoubleDip on June 15th, 2013 7:02 am

    Wow every day I come to NE to see yet another wreck on Jacks Branch, I drive that road almost every day and wonder when I’m going to have to avoid some idiot coming at me in my lane. What Gives? I came north yesterday around 12:30 and came up on a car burning just south of the bridge on 99, man said he just bought the car less than 24 hours earlier, went fishing, was loading the car, cranked it up, went back to get his poles and heard boom, the car lit up. All this time I thought it would be safer up here than in Pensacola, who knew!

  14. Henry Coe on June 15th, 2013 6:20 am

    Like being a small business owner isn’t tough enough without having vehicles running you over? In the middle of June no less for a small engine repair business.
    So I guess now all his repairs have been literally pushed back a week or two?

  15. Don on June 15th, 2013 5:41 am

    Hey Al.,can ya have ready by Tuesday?…..