Security cameras recorded a car crashing into a South Bay music business early Tuesday morning, causing large amounts of damage.
Mark's Guitar Exchange in Bonita was boarded up and closed by mid-morning after what happened shortly after midnight. The cameras were rolling inside Mark's Guitar Exchange on Otay Lakes Road when a Toyota Corolla drove through the front of the store, shattering glass and smashing into the rear of the business.
The store owner's son Josh Augustin was at home after midnight getting ready for bed when he was alerted to the incident.
"I got a phone call and an alarm," Augustin said. "I came down here because someone drove through the front of the store."
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The driver of the car told Chula Vista police he had just left the Jack in the Box drive-through across the parking lot and that, “next thing I knew, I woke up inside the store.”
The drive-through exit is in straight line into the front of the guitar store.
The driver was transported to the hospital. Police say alcohol was not believed to be a factor in the crash. Rather, all indications are the driver fell asleep at the wheel, then plowed into the store.
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The damage to the structure and merchandise inside was significant. Afterward, crushed guitars and amps were visible around the store. Initial damage estimates were above $100,000, according to Augustin.
"I mean, it’s a guitar store, and there are lots of nice things inside a guitar store, and there’s damage to carpeting, the structure and [many] guitars,” Augustin said.
Owners of the businesses on both sides of the guitar store — a nail salon and a dentist's office — told NBC 7 they did not suffer any damage. Employees at the nail shop said "they were lucky."
Mark's Guitar Shop, which has been in business in Chula Vista for 21 years, has another location in the Midway District.