EAST FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (WABC) -- A 69-year-old Farmingdale man will be in court Friday under arrest after police say he crashed into a Panera Bread restaurant in East Farmingdale Thursday morning.
According to Suffolk County Police, Jerome Arnold was driving his 2005 Nissan Pathfinder westbound through the parking lot of Walmart when he crashed his vehicle into another vehicle and fled the scene at 10:20 a.m.
Arnold then struck a parked vehicle in the nearby parking lot of Panera and drove through the east side of the restaurant and into the dining room, police say.
Two patrons who were dining together were injured. Ragen Ryan, 34, of Massapequa, was pinned under the Pathfinder, and was extricated by East Farmingdale Fire Department. She was taken by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital where she is hospitalized in serious condition with multiple fractures.
The other patron, Marianne Turndahl, 37, of Rockville Centre, was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip in stable condition.
Arnold, 69, of Farmingdale, was arrested and charged with Leaving the Scene of an Accident and Aggravated Unlicensed Operator 3rd Degree for driving with a suspended license.
The accident happened on Broad Hollow Road,in a large strip mall called Republic Plaza. Marianne Turndahl, 37, was having breakfast with her friend when the car came careening into the store and their table.
Turndahl was in the emergency room being treated for fractured ribs, a broken arm and leg.
"I just remember being on the ground and seeing all this glass. And I thought that I was dreaming. I thought it was a dream. I thought there was no possible way this could be happening to me," Turndahl said.
Her friend was pinned underneath the car. Customers heard her panic filled cries for help.
"She was just screaming. Just screaming. I don't know if she was saying anything. She was just screaming," one customer said.
She was eventually freed and conscious, but suffered injuries all over her body, officials said. She was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital where she was listed in serious condition.
Turndahl said it all seemed like a bad dream.
"The next thing I knew I was in an ambulance and I just kept saying 'I think my arm is dislocated because it doesn't feel like it's attached,' she said.
Her dad, Bob Turndahl, says he's just glad everyone survived.
"She's in a lot of pain. She can't move around, but after what happened we're lucky she's alive. We're happy," Turndahl said.
The driver and his female passenger were taken to Nassau University Medical Center in stable condition.