Surveillance video from an Independence gas station shows an out-of-control car speed through an intersection before punching through a brick wall into a business on Sunday morning.
The wreck occurred about 6 a.m. when a car drove through a wall and ended up inside the office of Pocock Heating and Cooling at U.S. 24 and Brookside Avenue in Independence.
Once inside, the car punched a hole through a side wall, but didn’t fully exit the building. The wreck was captured on a surveillance camera belonging to the nearby Discount Smoke & Gas store.
When police arrived, the driver was gone, but had left ID and an insurance card behind, according to the Independence Police Department. The driver later returned and spoke with police.
Julie Pocock, who runs the business with her husband Mark, said she believed the car was a Nissan. The building was not being used at the time of the wreck because it was undergoing renovations.
However, the wreck destroyed some roofing materials being stored inside, setting back those renovations significantly.
The Pococks had recently bought the building, which was once a Dairy Queen. Pocock’s son Mark joked that it could be a Dairy Queen again.
“They just put in a new drive-thru,” he said.
On Tuesday, an insurance agent surveyed the damage. The holes left in the building by the car had been boarded up.
Pocock said she and her husband were waiting to learn from the city if the building could be repaired or would be considered ruined.
The driver’s brother later called the business owners, Pocock said, to explain that the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Jackson County prosecutors have not announced any charges in the wreck.
Ian Cummings: 816-234-4633, @Ian__Cummings
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