SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One person is in "serious condition" at Stanton Territorial Hospital after an SUV jumped the curb and crashed into a downtown pub on Wednesday afternoon.

Kilt and Castle Pub owner Bob Stewart said he isn't sure how much damage his pub sustained after an SUV crashed into it – and other cars parked in front of it – Wednesday afternoon. Stewart said the small green car was parked across the curb for several hours but from what he saw, it appeared that only the SUV was involved in the collision. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

The owner of the Kilt and Castle was at the pub when it occurred.

"It sounded like an explosion," said Bob Stewart, owner of the Kilt and Castle Pub - which he said took a direct hit from a vehicle around 3:30 p.m.

"The walls pushed forward," he said. "There's an upper platform in here that's shifted a bit."

Stewart said the car crashed into the street-facing wall.

"He hit our building and still had his foot on the gas," said Stewart, adding the pub was relatively empty at the time.

"There were about four of us (staff) there," he said. "It was a dead time, just a couple customers."

Stewart said everybody inside was fine, so he ran out to check on the driver.

"From the looks of it, I think he blacked out in his car," said Stewart. "I went out to see if he was OK and he was talking but he didn't really know what happened. As far as I could see, he didn't have any marks on his face or anything like that. He seemed pretty intact."

Stewart said the man was taken to hospital in an ambulance and police had the scene wrapped up in about a half-hour.

RCMP spokesperson Const. Elenore Sturko stated in an e-mail police were called to the scene at 3:40 p.m. and one person was taken to the hospital.

"There are no details regarding that person's condition that can be released by police," she wrote.

Damien Healy, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Services, told Yellowknifer yesterday afternoon the patient is in "serious condition" by e-mail.

Alcohol was judged not to have been a factor and no charges are pending, wrote Sturko.

Another car sat diagonally across the curb in front of the pub, close behind another car parked very close to the damaged SUV. Stewart said the small green car was parked across the curb for several hours but from what he saw, it appeared that only the SUV was involved in the collision.

"I didn't see any damage to any other car besides his own," he said. "The other two cars didn't get towed or anything like that."

All of the vehicles sitting on the curb in front of the pub were involved in the crash, stated Sturko. Stewart said police closed off the area while they worked but a large group of people began to gather to see what was up.

"There was quite a few people milling about," he said.

Stewart said he thinks the damage was light and business quickly resumed at the pub - which celebrated it's grand opening in August.

"It's not too bad. You don't really notice it," said Stewart.

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