BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — It was supposed to be a peaceful Saturday morning reset between the breakfast and lunch rushes at the Oneta Station Diner.
Instead, diners enjoying their meals after church were sent scrambling for their lives when a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck came crashing straight through the front door.
Shocking surveillance video of the June 20 horror shows the truck plowing through the glass entrance, sending tables, chairs, and terrified patrons flying. Debris scattered everywhere as the vehicle came to a stop deep inside the dining area.
Waitress Melissa Newkirk was right there when it happened.
“We had already had our breakfast rush,” she recalled. “We were just kind of resetting for what was to come for lunch an hour after church service. I heard a huge crash and then saw a truck coming into the diner.”
She added: “I looked over my shoulder and I just saw the truck come straight through. Then it was just basically mass chaos. There was a lot of screaming at first. We were trying to calm some of the people down and then assess, ‘OK, what do we got? What’s going on?’”One waitress, Gina, was slammed against the salad bar and trapped in the wreckage. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and is expected to be out for several months.
Another server, Jeanna Parson, was standing behind the bar when the truck came barreling in.“I was standing behind the bar getting some salsa and all of a sudden I see this truck barreling through the front of the store. It pinned me up against the wall,” she said. “I’ve got pins and rods in my right leg, bruises all the way around my side. They say I was lucky to be alive.”Parson was trapped for nearly 30 minutes before rescuers could free her.
Police say the driver, a 79-year-old man, was trying to park when he mistakenly hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. There is no indication the crash was intentional, and investigators are still awaiting toxicology results.
In total, 12 people were injured in the terrifying wreck. Eight were transported to area hospitals, including two juveniles who were hit directly by the truck. Manager MacRay McManus said the staff is still trying to track down one family with two minors who were injured to make sure they’re okay.
The popular diner has been closed ever since, leaving its 11 employees without work while repairs are made. There’s no firm reopening date yet.
Staffers quickly launched a GoFundMe to help cover lost wages and support Gina’s recovery.
“We’re a family,” Newkirk and her coworkers said. “We got this. We made it through this. If we can make it through this, we can make it through anything.”The community has rallied with prayers, messages, and donations as the workers try to pick up the pieces from what they’re calling a life-changing ordeal.
For now, the shocking video of the truck ripping through the front of the restaurant continues to circulate online, a stark reminder of how quickly a normal morning can turn into absolute chaos.
