A 12,000-pound street sweeper plowed into a Denver restaurant early Monday morning, destroying the bar and pushing a wall six feet into the dining room.
No one was inside the Famous Dave’s at East 36th Avenue and Syracuse Street when the incident occurred around 1:30 a.m., said Mike Higgins, area director for the restaurant chain.
A cleaning crew normally would have been working in that area, but was running late because a worker forgot the key to the restaurant and had to go home and get it.
“If he had been behind the bar, he wouldn’t be with us any longer,” Higgins said. “We were lucky.”
The driver of the street sweeper, which was operated by a private company, was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. He was not seriously injured, said Kevin Hall, president of Park and Cart Property Service in Commerce City.
Hall said the cause of the accident is still undetermined, though the company has ruled out mechanical issues.
He declined to name the driver.
The model of street sweeper the man was driving can travel up to 60 mph.
“From the damage, it looks like he hit about full force,” Higgins said. “He did a number on it.”
Higgins hopes the dining room and to-go area of the restaurant will be able to reopen in the next day or two, but said it will depend on what structural problems city inspectors may find.
Sara Burnett: 303-954-1661 or sburnett@denverpost.com
