Phone:  (813) 925-3688

CTO Survives The Accident!

March 20, 2003

     It was just past 3pm on March 20, 2003.  The chefs and kitchen crew of  CTO (Cyber Takee Outee Chinese Restaurant) were diligently preparing food in the rear of the kitchen.  Suddenly, they heard a loud explosion at a near distance.  Then, seconds later, after several loud impacts, a huge explosion shook the entire restaurant with a force that none of them had ever experienced.  “The Iraqis are attacking!  Run for your lives!” the head chef yelled.  This was the second day of the U.S. war on Iraq.  Surely, they thought, the terrorists had just targeted their first bomb on the best Chinese restaurant in the Tampa Bay—a true devastation for the city!

In actuality, a giant fully-loaded dirt truck which was headed westbound on West Hillsborough Avenue blew a front tire, veered from the third left lane, flipped to its side, and made a non-stop course through the parking lot of the Ascot strip mall into CTO.  Since March 20, 2003, this was our last drive-through customer…           

A loyal customer who normally orders from CTO seven days a week had just picked up his order and left right before the accident occurred.  Although he didn’t witness the event, he was still close enough to hear the loud explosions.  He was later informed by his relative about the destruction of  his favorite Chinese restaurant.  If he had come out from CTO a few minutes later, he definitely would have been a prime target of this run-away truck.

At 3pm, there were only two people remaining at the front section of the restaurant-- the cashier and another customer who was waiting for her favorite dish-- the CTO Teriyaki Chicken.  While the customer was waiting, she picked out a drink from the beverage cooler and walked to the left end of the front counter to pay for it.  The cashier was about to finish packing the order. He stepped out from the packing counter in order to help the customer with the drink.  As they had just changed their positions, all of a sudden, they heard a deafening bang from the street.  When they looked out the front glass of the restaurant, they were horrified to see a giant mass of metal charging its way through the parking lot toward them.

This entire event lasted only seconds--there was no time to think and no place to escape!  The terrified customer crouched down in front of the counter to protect herself, while the startled cashier stood frozen as the truck, and with it, two of the parked cars it had hit, roared through the store’s front glass and straight into the restaurant.  The truck’s full load of dirt was emptied while sliding sideways toward CTO, leaving several inches of dark brown dirt throughout half of the Ascot parking lot.  Shattered glass flew everywhere.  Some of the glass shot into the walls like bullets while some of it flew as far as into the kitchen woks.  The charging vehicles crashed through a major steel vertical beam of the building, ripping through the front counter, side counters, the beverage cooler, tables, chairs, the tile floor, the walls, the ceiling, and even the CTO’s “Good Enough to Eat Everyday “ canopy sign.  Everything to the left, to the right, and to the front of the cashier’s two-feet diameter spot was crushed although he was left unscathed!  The glass block counters to the front and to the side of the crouched customer were smashed and knocked over 45 degrees by the violet Infinity and the white sedan pushed into CTO by the dirt truck.  The side counters were completely destroyed.  The Infinity, although it also crushed the beverage cooler, never touched the young customer in the store, and neither did any other of the other vehicles.  Only a piece of flying glass scratched her forehead--a minor injury relative to what could have happened instead.  Also worth mentioning, the injured customer did not bring her children to CTO on this fateful day, although she habitually does almost every time she orders.  Needless to say, if her children were present, regardless of whether they were to be sitting inside the restaurant or outside in Mom’s light pick-up truck, it would have been unimaginable what could have happened.  Most definitely, heaven was looking down upon her and her family this day. 

It is very apparent at this time that the now-warped vertical beam that had hindered the charging force of the vehicles from taking any human lives in the front of the store may have also prevented the vehicles from charging through the kitchen staff and the potentially explosive propane gas pipes in the kitchen.

(story continued at the top)

(story continued from the bottom)

Meanwhile, the truck driver was still inside the wrecked dirt truck during this entire time.  He was quickly rescued out of the vehicle by some brave people who had rushed to the scene.  Although everything around him was crushed, he also walked out in one piece, with only some minor cuts and bruises.

There was one more customer who was on her way to Cyber Takee Outee to place an order.  Peculiarly, she decided to stop at her mother’s place to chat with her for a few minutes before going to the restaurant.   When she got struck in the horrendous traffic on West Hillsborough Avenue due to the accident and finally saw what had happened to CTO, she realized that this ten-minute conversation with her mother had actually saved her life.

Outside, there was one parked car that was spun around 180 degrees after being charged by the dirt truck, causing the car to smash into the corner wall of the unit next to Cyber Takee Outee.  The other two cars parked next to this one, the Infiniti and another white sedan, were already pushed into the store and smashed by the truck into a two-dimensional shape.  The customer’s pick-up truck was thrown from the front parking lot to the side parking lot, hitting two of the chefs’ cars.  Another parked car was also thrown from the front parking lot to the side of the restaurant next to what used to be the drive-through pick-up window.  The side wall of the restaurant was pushed out several inches and there no longer existed the familiar boundary between the front of the store and the parking lot.

The four lanes of westbound West Hillsborough Avenue were narrowed into a single lane from 3pm to past 9pm.  Much later during rush hour, as the news helicopters circled above the wreckage scene, a special gigantic tow truck had finally arrived from Plant City to tow the dirt truck out of the restaurant.  Several regular tow trucks pulled out and took away the two flattened vehicles inside CTO along with the other wrecked vehicles in the parking lot.  Of the seven vehicles that were struck by the dirt truck either directly or indirectly, five of them were totaled.  

Perhaps the luckiest one of all is the CTO manager.  Usually, during this time of low customer volume, the manager would be stocking drinks in the beverage cooler, working on making changes to the cash register system at the front counter, or enjoying lunch with his wife at one of the tables in the front of the store… all of these were destruction sites from the accident.  However, on this day, he and his wife had left for home early to check up on their beloved Golden Retriever Sir Lancelot as he had just been neutered the day before.  If it had not been for Lancelot’s lack of high spirits (who wouldn’t, having been neutered?), they might have come back to the restaurant immediately.  In addition, ten minutes after they had left, while they were still on their way home, they received a call on their cellular phone from CTO--a salesman was there for an appointment that was previously arranged.  Since the manger was anxious to see how his beloved pet was feeling, nothing was going to change his mind from going home.  Shortly after returning home, the accident occurred at the restaurant.  Sir Lancelot had not only saved his masters’ lives, but he also saved the salesman, along with their respective vehicles.

Although there was not much left to be salvaged from the crushed cars and the wrecked CTO storefront, all human lives and the CTO kitchen were spared from this major accident.  The Lord was merciful and did not let any person be in the wrong place at the wrong time, which would have made this story a tragedy rather than a miracle.  And despite the temporary unsightly appearance of reconstruction and business operation from a 18" x 23" kitchen window at the side of the building, customers stand in line outside the restaurant for the Best Chinese Cuisines in the Tampa Bay Area!  Thank God for all His blessings!