Police arrest driver after he repeatedly crashes into Ballito restaurant
The man drove through the glass doorway at Nikos Coalgrill Greek restaurant after allegedly being asked to leave.
A man was arrested and taken for blood alcohol testing after he repeatedly smashed his car into a Ballito restaurant this afternoon.
The man appeared to intentionally drive into the glass doorway of Nikos Coalgrill Greek restaurant at the Salmon Bay tidal pool following an altercation when he was asked to leave.
Restaurant owner Tania Tsiantos said he had arrived with a friend at around 1pm, appearing drunk and stumbling down the stairs.
“He had apparently been drinking since the morning and was kicked out of two other restaurants,” she said.
Tsiantos said the man became increasingly disruptive, kicking a chair and being rude to waitstaff who told him he could not vape inside.
“He was causing a racket and so we said, let’s go and get him to leave,” she said.
“We called security and he left, but he came back shouting and hitting the walls like a madman.”
He eventually left again, but not before allegedly throwing a punch at Tsiantos’ husband, Dalton Venter, on the way out.
That prompted a short fight just outside the restaurant, after which the man went to his car at around 2.25pm.
“I was just walking up to check if there was any blood that needed to be cleaned up when I saw him coming down in his car,” said Tsiantos.
“He drove into the door, reversed out and then hit it again, breaking through on the second go.”
In a video, seen by the Courier, Tsiantos can be seen running down the stairs as the car hits the doorway behind her.
“I ran down the stairs and just shouted, ‘MOVE’, trying to get everyone away,” she said.
“I feared for my life, I’ve never been so scared. The whole building was shaking, it felt like an earthquake.”
Luckily nobody was injured and the man was arrested by Umhlali Saps and taken for blood alcohol testing at a hospital.
Tsiantos estimated that between the damage to the door, food wastage and lost business, the whole ordeal cost the restaurant around R200 000.
“What a mess this all is. We’ll also have to organise guards to watch the restaurant until we can fix the door.”
When the Courier arrived, staff were still sweeping away pieces of glass outside the doorway.
Umhlali Saps spokesperson Captain Vinny Pillay said police were on the case.
“A case of drunken driving and recklessly and/or negligent driving will be opened against the accused,” he said.
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