EL CAJON - A 74-year-old man was jailed Tuesday for allegedly crashing his car into an East County fast-food restaurant while drunk last month, killing a patron who was sitting in a booth inside the business.
Detectives arrested Richard Alfred Daus of El Cajon at his home Tuesday morning, Lt. Jeff Davis said.
About 8:45 a.m. on Jan. 3, Daus' car smashed into a Carl's Jr. in the 500 block of North Second Street in El Cajon, according to police.
Randy Smith, 66, a regular customer of the eatery, died at the scene. Medics took Daus to a hospital for treatment of injuries he suffered in the crash, Davis said.
Frank Barnes witnessed the crash. Barnes said, "We heard this big noise...Boom!"
Yolanda Vasquez just had finshed using the restroom at Carl's Jr. Vasquez said, "We kind of screamed, because we already seen everything glass shattered."
Vasquez and Barnes rehash a horrible sight they luckily survived. As they left, they ended up seeing a Silver Honda CRV slam into the restaurant.
Vasquez said, "There comes this car from the bank...zooming so fast. If I wouldn't have stopped. I would've probably been there dead."
El Cajon police say Smith was eating breakfast right at that spot. Restaurant workers say the man was a regular who sat in the same booth every morning.
Vasquez said, "When he hit that corner and the man flew to the other side of the restaurant."
It's not known how many others were inside the restaurant when the SUV came in crashing. Frank Barnes wishes he can forget this all.
He said, "When somebody dies right in front of you. That's kind of a little shock."
Vasquez reflects on the lesson she learned from this tragic death.
She said, "You know one minute you are here and the next minute you are gone."
Daus was booked into county jail on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving resulting in injury.
