A business owner and his team are cleaning up the wreckage after a man crashed a truck into his business in Ankeny. Ryan Martin owns Fit to be Tide, a shoe store with locations in both Ankeny and West Des Moines that carries a variety of shoe brands. The Ankeny store is located on Olalaboa Street, which Martin says is where the man crashed his vehicle into his business. “He came up Olalaboa Street, went through the grass, went through the parking lot, went over the curb between two columns,” Martin said. “He went through three windows in my store, hit my display table, knocked all my display shoes off the wall.” Martin said this happened around 1:30pm on Sunday. Martin said the truck driver crashed through the back wall and into the machinery room. “He then burned through the carpet and set off the smoke detectors because he wouldn't let go of the gas pedal,” Martin said. Ankeny police identified the driver as Aaron Hodges. He now faces multiple charges, including DUI, failure to control and reckless driving. “He was pretty disoriented,” Martin said. “He was trying to exit through the driver's door and he was hitting the wall multiple times.” Martin said there was only one customer and one employee in the store as of Sunday. “If you look at the grocery bags, they were standing a few feet away from where he was actually going,” Martin said. “He must have been going about 40-50 miles per hour.” No customers or employees were injured. Martin said the Ankeny store will be closed for at least a week. You can keep an eye on the store's Facebook page for updates. When they reopen, they plan to have a big sale. For now, they're focused on fixing up the store. “We've had a lot of people reach out to us,” Martin said. “They wanted to help clean up. We just started today. We've already taken a lot of the big items out.” In the meantime, the Valley West Mall store will remain open. » Download the free KCCI app to get the latest news on the go: Apple | Google PlayGet the latest news from KCCI
Ankeny, Iowa —
After a man crashed a truck into a store in Ankeny, the store owner and his team are busy cleaning up the scene.
Ryan Martin owns Fit to Be Tide, a shoe store that carries a wide variety of shoe brands in both Ankeny and West Des Moines. The Ankeny store is on Olalaboa Road, where Martin said a man drove off the road and crashed into the store.
“A man came down from Olaboru, ran through the grass, through the car park and over the curb between two posts,” Martin said. “He smashed through three of my shop's windows, smashed through a number of display tables and took all the shoes from the display wall.”
Martin said this happened on Sunday at about 1:30 p.m.
Martin said the truck driver crashed through the back wall and into the machinery room.
“Then he never pressed the gas pedal and it burned the carpet in my house and set off the smoke alarms,” Martin said.
According to the Ankeny Police Department, the driver was Aaron Hodges, who now faces multiple charges including DUI, failure to control and reckless driving.
“He was pretty disoriented,” Martin said. “He kept hitting the wall trying to get out the driver's door.”
Martin said there was only one customer and one employee inside the store as of Sunday.
“Looking at the cash packets, we can see that they were standing several feet out of the actual path of the perpetrator,” Martin said, “who would have been traveling around 40 to 50 miles per hour.”
No customers or employees were injured.
The Ankeny store will be closed for at least a week, Martin said. Customers can follow the store's Facebook page for updates. He said they plan to have a major sale when they reopen.
For now, he's focused on fixing it.
“A lot of people have reached out to me,” Martin said, “wanting to help clean up. We just started today. We've already cleared out a lot of the big stuff.”
In the meantime, stores at Valley West Mall will remain open.
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