As bricks spew from the front window of one of East Nashville's most iconic watering holes, bar owner Bill Carney insists 3 Crow Bar will be open tonight to host its weekly trivia contest.
Police say a 50-year-old woman drove her SUV across the Five Points intersection south from 11th Street around 3:45 p.m. Thursday, slamming into the building head-on, breaking through the brick wall and shattering spacious glass windows overlooking one of the neighborhood's many busy intersections.
"It's not like we would have to close," Carney said while assessing the damage after packs of onlookers had already taken photos and group pictures with the damage.
The bar continued serving patrons who were inside during the time of the crash.
Jeremy McAnulty, 30, was sitting at the window writing on his laptop when the vehicle smashed into the building. "I specifically remember fragments of brick flying at me, and the next thing I knew, a Jeep Grand Cherokee was in my lap," McAnulty tells the Scene, adding the fall literally gave him a pain in the butt. He said he would seek medical treatment tonight.
The alleged driver, Jennifer Casassa — last known to have lived in Mt. Juliet — was later taken to General Hospital. She is in custody for suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department. Charges are pending.
Slabs of brick lay across the raised stage like corn cut from the cob. Carney, one of the three owners of the bar and building, says he'll have the rubble cleaned up and a temporary wall put in before the start of trivia night at 8 p.m.
Trivia geeks should commit to memory that this isn't the first time someone has run into the building, lest it end up as a question for tonight's game. Carney says a drunk driver managed to wedge his car between a nearby tree and the corner of his building on the south side of Woodland. The damage, he said, was only scratches to the outside of the building and a dent to the gutter, making this crash the largest in the bar's history, he said.
