West Virginia State Police were initially called to the Scott Depot Dairy Queen on Saturday night for a report of a crash.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by WBOY, Casey Oxley was behind the wheel of the vehicle, and when troopers asked if he drove into the building on purpose he responded, “Yeah.”
The Teays Valley Fire Department responded to the scene and posted photos showing extensive damage to the building in a Facebook post. In the post, firefighters said they treated the building with foam for gas vapors. The photos show that the Kia that Oxley had driven was completely inside the restaurant.
“It’s crazy. Gas lines were all busted, electric and water shooting everywhere,” Jeff Diehl, owner of the Dairy Queen, told WSAZ. “It was just crazy. Like a tornado or something, it’s unbelievable.”
There were five employees inside the restaurant at the time of the crash, but no customers, because the dining room was closed for remodeling, WCHS reported.
“I was working the window — I had my back turned and, all of a sudden, I just hear a big loud, basically, explosion,” Jacob Bayliss, a Dairy Queen employee, told MetroNews. “I thought something in the kitchen blew up. I got done handing out whatever order I was handing out and I walked over there, and there was a car basically up into the ceiling that had rammed through the front door.”
Surveillance video shared on social media shows the car crashing through the front of the restaurant.
“We just have to look at the bright side,” Diehl told WBOY. “Nobody was hurt, which is unbelievable. I mean the idea that you could do that much damage and everybody is OK is pretty awesome on the positive side of things.”
Oxley is also facing charges for assaulting an EMT worker while in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, as well as for allegedly hitting an emergency room doctor in the face, WBOY reported.