‘Oh, my God.’ Milford convenience store owner describes crash into business

Sanjay Patel was gone from his convenience store just five minutes when he got a call he almost didn’t believe—a pickup truck had plowed into Patel’s business, Speedy Mart, on Meadowside Road in Milford.

“I was like, ‘What?!’ So, I come back and see the truck is like inside the building,” Patel told News 12. “This is like, ‘Oh, my God.’”

It happened just before 12:30 p.m. Monday afternoon.

“I was in my house, and I heard a screeching of tires, a crash, assumed it was an accident,” recalled Barry Hatrick, who lives across the street from Speedy Mart. “Then almost immediately, I heard what I thought was a human scream, a louder crash, so I ran outside to the fence and saw there was a truck stuck in the side of the building.”

Hatrick said he also saw another car in the road. The truck initially collided with that car at the intersection with Robert Treat Parkway, then hit the store, according to fire officials.

Patel told News 12 the truck crashed right into where the counter was. He explained he’d quickly run home and asked his cousin to look after things for ten minutes. Luckily, Patel’s cousin wasn’t hurt.

“He was not at the counter. He was further up towards the aisles, so that's why he got saved,” Patel explained.

Had Patel been at the store when it happed, he said there’s a very good chance he would've been directly in the truck’s path—not just behind the counter but at the lottery machine on the other side of the now damaged wall.

“Because it was a big jackpot yesterday, most likely I was there,” he said.

Luckily, there weren't any customers inside either.

Hatrick described the scene as “almost like a movie stunt,” especially since no one was seriously hurt. The driver of the car went to the hospital with minor injuries, while the man behind the wheel of the truck said he was fine and didn’t need treatment.

“Everyone is doing great, even the driver who hit the building was outside standing. I was like, ‘How did you come out?’” Patel told News 12.

It's not known when Speedy Mart’s neon open sign will flash again. The city’s building department deemed the structure unsafe. Patel said he’s waiting for the department’s go-ahead to get inside and figure out next steps for repairs.

Police are investigating the cause of the crash.