On Wednesday evening, a man crashed his SUV into Pete’s House of Spirits, located on the 1600 block of North Avenue. The driver, a man in his 60s, was charged with DUI and driving with a revoked license from a previous alcohol offense.

The SUV entered near the front door, toward the side of the building facing North Avenue. No one was injured by the accident, although the driver was taken to the hospital before he was taken into custody by police.

“There were two people working,” employee Tyler Juby said. “There was also a customer standing down there. If anyone would have been standing right here, they probably would have been killed.”

Juby arrived for work five minutes after the accident happened. When asked if he was disappointed that he missed the action, he expressed that he was thankful to have avoided the commotion.

“I was kind of happy,” Juby said. “I would have probably been right there had I been here five minutes earlier.”

Juby saw the driver of the vehicle before he was taken to the hospital.

“I didn’t get to meet him, but I saw him,” Juby said. “He was drunk as a skunk.”

About a year-and-a-half ago, Pete’s House of Spirits suffered a fire and was forced to shut down for about 24 hours. Although they are still doing some construction, the broken-down brick walls have been replaced with wood, and business has picked up again.