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Driver Plows SUV Into Restaurant Killing Two Brothers

Screenshot/ABC11

Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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Two brothers were killed Sunday when a man drove an SUV into a Hardees in North Carolina.

Christopher Ruffin, 58, and Clay Ruffin, 62, were hit when the SUV’s driver plowed into the side of the restaurant Sunday morning, according to The News & Observer. Christopher reportedly died at the scene, while Clay was transported to a local hospital where he later died.

The driver of the SUV was a 78-year-old man named Jesse Lawrence, who was also transported to the hospital but later released, ABC 11 reported. Police said that they do not believe the crash had anything to do with a medical or impairment issue, the outlet noted.

Witnesses said Lawrence crossed over Forest Hills Road, which was busy at the time, narrowly missing traffic, WRAL reported. The SUV completely destroyed the right side of the restaurant. Lawrence drove directly through the window, striking the two brothers, the outlet continued.

“I heard the young lady screaming from the drive-thru and I look in the mirror and I just see glass everywhere,” Hardee’s employee Gabriela Palacios Alonzo told WRAL. When she approached the scene, Alonzo said she saw that “a black male [was] trying to get up. He wasn’t able to … He was outside on the sidewalk. He was in a bad state.” (RELATED: Horrifying Footage Shows Small Plane Crash Into Truck Full Of People On California Highway Before Bursting Into Flames)

A young boy was also caught under the SUV, which hit while the boy’s father was in the restroom, WRAL continued. “When he came out of the bathroom and went through all the glass … he found and pulled the boy from underneath the car,” another employee told WRAL.