Truck Smashes Into Car Carrying 2 Kids, Punches Hole In Popular San Bernardino Bar

SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA) — Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt after a truck smashed into a car carrying two children in the backseat, then punched a hole in the wall of a popular San Bernardino bar.

Two crash scenes were reported at about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday outside the Party Doll bar, 25461 E. Base Line St. – a wrecked car outside and a jagged hole in the side of the popular dive bar.

Firefighters say one of their engines had pulled up next to the truck to check on the driver, who appeared to be having trouble – and the driver sped off, hit a white BMW, pushing it into a telephone pole, then barreled through the side of the bar. The truck was left parallel to the hole that had been punched through the wall.

The driver, 19-year-old James Daily, has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Investigators say they suspect he was huffing or inhaling fumes from aerosol cans.

Firefighters first attended to the white BMW sedan, which had three people inside, including two children. The children were extricated from the car and treated at the scene by paramedics, but did not need to go to the hospital. A man and a woman with the children suffered injuries, but were not hospitalized.

A family member was later spotted carrying the children away in blankets. Authorities say they would like to talk to the family because they left the scene before deputies arrived.

Eleven people -- the bartender and 10 customers -- were in the bar at the time of the crash, but amazingly, no one was hurt inside. The bar's owner, Connie Colugh, was initially worried for her dog.

"I have a little dog that's a runaway, and she's been sleeping at my bar for four years," Colugh said. "That's the only thing I worried about, was that little dog."

Colugh says she has owned the Party Doll for 30 years. The bar is packed on weekends and Colugh said she was glad the crash didn't happen on a busier night.