A San Francisco business owner says he's struggling to stay afloat after a driver doing donuts in the middle of Market Street on Monday morning skidded out of control and crashed into his bike shop.
One of the front windows at Market Street Bicycles remained boarded up on Tuesday. John McDonell, the shop owner, said he’s struggling to keep from giving up.
"I have very little faith in the city to help now,” he said.
Early Monday morning, the driver of a black BMW was apparently making loops in the middle of Market Street when they lost control and careened into the bike shop. Some pictures shot by a bike store employee showed the damaged BMW and the smashed in store front.
A nearby resident who heard the crash monday morning walked in to check on his neighbor. He didn't want to be identified but said the driver of the car seemed to be in bad shape after the crash.
"He was very woeful and more like, 'I'm hurting, i'm hurting!'" a San Francisco resident told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. "Somebody please call the, help me, help me. He asked for water and they sat him down."
According to San Francisco police, the paramedics did assist the driver and while officers were investigating the crash, they said someone came over to the damaged car, swiped property from inside and ran off.
McDonell told NBC Bay Area that's the level of lawlessness he's been dealing with since the pandemic. Last year, he lost thousands of dollars in another incident.
"That was a break-in. That was a prior break-in when all my locks were cut off the front with power tools. Took them about 20 minutes to get in here. There were sparks flying 20 feet out into market street,” he said.
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McDonell said he's looking into a city grant for vandalism and he may accept help from the neighborhood business association. he's worried the help may be too little too late.
"The business owners here at the corner of Paige and Market streets say they feel abandoned. The bicycle shop owner says he's struggling to stay open, after the crash early this week. That cafe closed two weeks ago. The pizza shop just closed,” he said.
Police said they are still looking for any information about the person who robbed the crashed car while they were investigating the scene.
