WESTFIELD, Ind. — Two teachers and two dancers were having a private lesson inside of Aurelia Dance Studio Tuesday afternoon when their focus was shattered by a white pickup truck crashing through the front doors.
The truck only came to a stop when it slammed into the wall the dance studio shares with its next-door neighbor, The Lincoln Square Pancake House.
The wall finally brought the truck to a stop.
The end of the destructive drive was caught on cameras inside the restaurant. One showing an additional dining room where the camera fell off the wall. Another camera showing the truck slamming through a back storage room, sending food products flying.
”That’s how it pretty much was," said Gert Roslender, "Explosion."
Roslender owns Aurelia Dance Studio. He was inside when the truck came crashing through with another teacher and two students.
You can’t even tell there was a crash from the main dining room of Lincoln Square Pancake House. The side dining room and back storage room are behind closed doors. The restaurant is still open and serving — the dance studio is a much different situation.
”This whole space was full of glass," Roslender said. "We were brooming it up last night. Many bags full of gas."
Roslender said he and the three others were just 10 to 15 feet away from the truck when it came crashing through. He had his back turned.
"It was just a super loud noise," he said. "I just remember grabbing my student and once you turn around there is a car inside."
It was a shock for all of them. The other teacher was able to get into the truck and turn it off. The rampage took out the front doors of the studio, a small wall in the entrance with a couch, TV, music system and trophies before it smashed through a wall of mirrors. It adds up to thousands of dollars in damage.
”Somewhere in there is our sofa," Roslender said, pointing toward the pile of rubble that used to be a wall.
The impact was so strong it moved what was left of the wall back. You can see where a doorjam at the end of the room shifted backward.
”The whole wall has moved four or five inches," he said.
Somehow no one was injured. Roslender said they were doing a lot of moving around the room during that lesson and had been on that side of the room minutes before. He said the situation could've been much worse.
”I wouldn't be talking to you," he said.
Westfield police said witnesses saw the white pickup truck was driving normally before speeding up and veering off the road. The driver was uninjured and told police his gas pedal was stuck. No arrests were made.
Temporary repairs to close off the front of the dance studio has begun. But, Roslender isn't sure how long they'll be without the studio they just celebrated a decade of dancing in last month.
The good news, several dance studios have already offered them floor space in the meantime.