A high-speed chase on the Curepe Southern Main Road has left the Rituals Coffee House at the corner of Knowles Street destroyed and two men injured.
Police sources said around 2.20 am on April 18, officers of the Praedial Larceny Squad were at the Unipet gas station near Bobby’s Bar at Curepe Junction, when they heard a loud sound coming from the direction of the Priority Bus Route.
The officers then saw Toyota NZE drive past them heading south on the Southern Main Road.
Police then chased the vehicle until its driver lost control and crashed into the Rituals Coffee House, bursting into flames.
Police found two unconscious men in the burning vehicle and pulled them from it.
An onlooker who witnessed the incident said, "The car was real speeding. It skid (sic) off the road and crash into Rituals. As soon as it hit, it catch a fire.
"Police was trying to out it [the fire] with a car extinguisher and other things as well."
Tunapuna fire officers eventually extinguished the blaze but it had already damaged the front of the coffee house.
[caption id="attachment_1078080" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Workers clean up debris after a car crashed into a branch of Rituals Coffee House and caught fire after being chased by police on the Southern Main Road, Curepe on April 18. - Photo by Faith Ayoung[/caption]
When Newsday visited the scene on April 18, there was a clean-up crew attending to the debris.
Rituals Coffee House posted to their official social media pages that the Curepe branch would be closed temporarily, but gave no further details.
Newsday tried contacting chairman of Rituals parent company Global Brands Group of Companies Mario Sabga-Aboud, but was unsuccessful.
Police sources said the two men were taken to the Eric Williams Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, for treatment under police guard.
The onlooker said they saw the police taking out a cutlass from the vehicle but police sources said nothing illegal was found.
A nearby business owner called the situation scary, while the onlooker, who works in the area, called on the police to do more patrols.
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