Truck crashes into Spiffy Lube auto repair shop, owner says

Police are investigating an accident Wednesday morning involving a vehicle hitting an auto repair shop in Copiague — a crash the shop owner said sent three people to the hospital.

A Suffolk County police spokeswoman said a call came in at 8:04 a.m. “for a vehicle into a building” at 990 Montauk Hwy. — the location of Spiffy Lube auto repair shop. The spokeswoman said she had no further information immediately.

The owner of the shop, Richard Lutgens, called the crash “a nightmare” and said he was grateful no one else was injured.

Lutgens said a box truck crashed into the front of the building and “took out” two 12-foot glass doors and a concrete column in the middle of the shop before coming to rest about two feet from where he was standing inside.

The shop had opened at 8 a.m. so no cars or other workers were inside, but about a dozen vehicles were lined up to be serviced, Lutgens said.

“It happened in the oil change lift area and the truck got all the way in — about 15 feet in,” Lutgens said in a telephone interview about an hour after the crash. “Thank God no one else was injured,” he added.

Lutgens said the truck apparently is owned by a plumbing company and that a driver and a passenger were inside. He said the two in the truck as well as a woman in a Jeep were taken away in ambulances.

The truck and the Jeep were involved in a crash outside, then the truck slammed through the shop’s doors, Lutgens said.

“All three went to the hospital,” Lutgens said. “We were just getting 12 cars ready to come in. It was a nightmare.”

Lutgens said the damage was so extensive that a building inspector was being called.