DALLAS — Owners at a restaurant in South Dallas say they are upset after a semi-truck hit their building and left the scene.
Workers at Catfish Smith discovered the damage on Monday morning. The family-owned restaurant has been operating in the community for nearly five decades. Owners say they never imagined they would some to work to find significant damage to part of their building.
“It was pretty bad," Brittney Spann said. "I realized the entire structure had shifted, and almost on the verge of falling.”
Surveillance video showed an 18-wheeler driving into the restaurants parking lot around 6:45 a.m. Monday. The truck driver wedges the vehicle through a tight area and damages the pavilion and canopy.
“We don’t need this headache,” owner Delma Canyon said.
Workers say the truck driver didn’t leave a not. They say he only left behind thousands of dollars in damage for the business to repair.
"It’s looking now like it’s about to fall anytime," Canyon said.
The restaurant’s pavilion and canopy are lopsided and leaning. The family’s blocked the area off with caution tape for safety.
"To have this kind of damage, and to have the person just run off, and it impacts beyond us," Spann said. "It’s detrimental. We can’t bear it, which is why we called you all to get some help and figure out who did it.”
Surveillance video the business provided shows the truck’s trailer has a moniker advertising C.R. England Global Transportation. So far, no one from the company has returned calls and messages to WFAA. The restaurant owners are reporting the incident to Dallas Police Department.
"I hope they can find them, catch them, and make him pay for the damage he done did around here," Spann said.