Matt Dare, left, and David Haladay, co-owners of the B&D Market, look at the damage left after a vehicle ran into the west side of their Centralia store on Monday afternoon.
Police have obtained a warrant to search for drugs and possible stolen property in a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta that struck Centralia’s B&D Market Monday afternoon, according to the Centralia Police Department.
The incident was reported at about 1 p.m. at the market, which is located at 601 N. Tower in Centralia.
Sgt. Dave Clary, of the Centralia Police Department, said people inside the store heard a large crash and discovered that the Volkswagen, which was parked in the lot near the store’s rear entrance, drove into the wall.
The impact bent the metal exterior wall, cracked an interior wall and caused damage to refrigerators in the business.
“We’ve been here 22 years and we’ve never had anyone hit us,” said B&D owner David Haladay. “I feel shaken.”
Haladay said the driver had not been in the store.
“The vehicle then took off and at least one passenger jumped out and ran off on foot,” Clary said.
A short while later, a person who Clary said was aware of what happened that morning saw the suspect’s car and followed it to Walmart in Chehalis.
Centralia and Chehalis police officers found the vehicle at Walmart with people in it. The driver was not at the scene.
“A K9 who’s trained in detecting narcotics and illegal drugs did a sniff around the vehicle and it alerted on the vehicle, indicating that there were drugs inside,” Clary said. “The person we have probable cause to arrest wasn’t located on the scene.”
Officers applied for a search warrant to search the vehicle. As of about 2:30 p.m. Monday, no arrests had been made.
“I’m just thankful no one was hurt,” Haladay said.
