Getting a phone call about someone coming into his business is not unusual for Tom Kopp, the owner of Kopp Copier Service on West Main Street. Getting a call that an individual had crashed a vehicle into his business is not usual.

 

Such was the case this afternoon as Kopp received a phone call telling him that had just happened. At roughly 11:17 a.m., a Ford Mustang struck the outside of the building prompting a heavy emergency response from city agencies.

 

“I got a call from (my business neighbors) Cooper Law that my building had been struck and immediately came down to check it out,” said Kopp.

 

What Kopp, and others who drove past or walked to the scene, noticed was the vehicle striking the building hard enough to know bricks from the outside and cause damage inside. Kopp said the front porch of his business is “damaged quite heavily” and that display area just inside was “also damaged heavily.”

 

Bridgeport Police and Bridgeport Fire and its EMS unit responded to the scene almost immediately. According to Bridgeport Fire Chief Phil Hart, there was a male driver in the vehicle that was taken to United Hospital Center for medical treatment. His condition was unknown.

 

According to one witness, the vehicle struck the back end of a truck before hitting the building.

 

The accident blocked the Westbound lane of Route 50 along Main Street just up from the Civic Center and prior to Virginia Avenue. The accident ended up backing up traffic in both lanes until just prior to noon. At that time, Dan Riggs Towing had removed the vehicle.

 

“I have tenants living there and no one was injured in my building,” said Kopp. “Nothing in the place was knocked over, just damage to the porch and display area.”

 

The Bridgeport Police are handling the investigation.

 

Additional photos from the accident are below.