PHOTO BY LYNN POLICE
Walnut Street Cafe in Lynn suffered damage early Monday morning after a Jeep Grand Cherokee stolen out of Beverly crashed through the wall.
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — Walnut Street Cafe workers will be selling coffee and greeting customers at 6 a.m. Wednesday even as the eatery and entertainment locale’s owners plan repairs for damage caused early Monday when a driver plowed an alleged stolen car into the cafe.
No one was inside the 157 Walnut St. business when the crash occurred at about 2:15 a.m. An alert police sergeant and a Tom’s Taxi dispatcher and driver helped apprehend Igor Cruz, 18, of Malden, who was arrested and charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle and failure to stop for police.
Only the back end of the white Jeep Grand Cherokee, stolen out of Beverly, was visible from Walnut Street when police arrived to investigate the crash. Cafe owner James Chalmers arrived minutes after the crash to find one of the establishment’s walls smashed in with the outer edge of the roof severely damaged and freshly delivered bagels strewn across the cafe’s floor.
“I’m grateful no one got hurt,” he said.
A crew from Beverly-based A to Z Services arrived at the Walnut Street Cafe to board up the building while some of Chalmers’ 20 employees pitched in to clean up debris. By Monday afternoon, city Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan confirmed that Chalmers and wife and co-owner Alicia Churchill had received the initial inspections and engineering confirmations they needed to safely reopen Wednesday.
“Luckily, nothing major was damaged,” Churchill said.
The post-Christmas drama began when Lynn Police Sgt. Paul Cotter saw the Cherokee pass his cruiser on Boston Street and decided to check the license plate with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The check quickly confirmed the Jeep had been stolen in Beverly Sunday.
Cotter followed the Jeep up Kirtland and down Robinson streets. When it sped the wrong way up Childs Street, he broke off the pursuit but searched for the Jeep until he spotted it wedged into the Walnut Street Cafe.
According to Cotter’s report, residents living near the cafe spotted a man with long hair fleeing the Jeep and running through yards on Flint Street. Police officers launched a foot search for the Jeep’s driver on Flint Street, and State Trooper Daniel Purtell arrived on the scene with “Niko,” a State Police tracking dog who caught the Jeep driver’s scent.
The dog lost the Jeep driver’s scent on Hart Street, which runs between Robinson and Childs. However, police received a call just after 6 a.m. Monday from a Tom’s Taxi dispatcher reporting that one of the company’s drivers might have picked up the crash suspect at about 4:30 a.m.
Taxi driver David Roy told police, according to Cotter’s report, that he picked up a man on Childs Street who climbed into his cab wearing a ripped, bloody shirt. Roy told police the man appeared very cold and told Roy he “‘had been outside for the last three hours.’”
Tom’s dispatcher, Tom Laramie, said he answered calls to the company from the man who Roy picked up and said the caller sounded “really out of breath.” Laramie alerted police to his suspicions that the man might be the driver who crashed into Walnut Street Cafe and told police Roy was driving his cab down Boston Street enroute to Malden to drop the man off.
Lynn police, according to Cotter’s report, subsequently learned Beverly police responded to 17 motor vehicle break-ins on Sunday and were told the Jeep Cruz is charged with stealing was unlocked.
Cruz pleaded not guilty in Lynn District Court to a total of six charges.
Churchill said she was amazed by the outpouring of support from customers and Lynn residents eager to help Walnut Street get back in business.
“At 6:30 in the morning people were offering to clean up. They were absolutely phenomenal,” she said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
