By SUSAN BRITTINGHAM
FEATURES EDITOR
For “a little while,” at least, Grissom Implements Manager Roy Johnston plans to park in the back.
“They say bad things come in threes, and this is twice in two months,” he said of the Wednesday morning accident that took out the high chain link fence surrounding the John Deere dealer’s lot.
“But at least no one was hurt.”
And that, he says, is “awesome” and “amazing.”
The accident took place at 5108 S. U.S. Highway 69 at about 10:30 in the morning.
Here, according to Johnston, is what happened: “A guy was trying to turn into our parking lot, heading south. He slammed on his brakes, lost control of his Excursion and shot across the line of traffic.
“Then he hit the curb and started going sideways. He hit the fence, rolled over on the side of the car and hit the roof of his car on a skid loader.
“We had the bucket up on the skid loader and when he hit it, it cut a hole in his Excursion, right over the top of where his head, normally, would have been. But, because gravity was pulling him down, the bucket didn’t hit him.
“It didn’t hurt him. Plus, he had five kids in the car, along with his wife, but they all had seatbelts on and nobody got hurt.
“It was awesome to watch. I just can’t believe that it happened again, two months later.”
Back in May, a hydroplaning car caused a semi to swerve and slam into the fence surrounding Grissom Implements.
At the time, Johnston said of the six damaged tractors, “One is split in half. And the fence, since it’s a chain link, it pulled it. Nineteen pieces were either destroyed or scratched or damaged at some point.
“It’s just unreal. I’m glad no one was standing here. There was no way anyone could have gotten out of the way.”
Security officers notified Johnston about the damage to the fence and the tractors soon after the accident, and workers spent Memorial Day repairing the chain link fence.
Meanwhile, Grissom Implements employees never know what they’re going to see — either in person while at work, or on the company’s video cameras that provide nighttime surveillance.
“Just to be safe, I’m still going to park in the back for a little while, and I hope the newspaper never has to come back out here,” Johnston said, laughing, and saying again he’s glad that no one was injured in either accident.
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