SMASH UP Emergency officials deal with a crash Friday where an SUV plowed through the front of the 98 Cent Store on Freedom Boulevard. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

Three people were hurt when an SUV plowed through the front of the 98 Cent Store on Freedom Boulevard Friday.

Around 1:30pm, a man driving a Toyota 4Runner lost control of his vehicle in front of Walgreens on the 1800 block of Freedom Boulevard. After smashing into two parked vehicles—a Mercedes sedan and a Toyota Sienna minivan—he surged across all five lanes of Freedom Boulevard and sailed through the large plate-glass windows of the 98 Cent Store at 1815 Freedom Boulevard.

MAJOR DAMAGE The crash left major damage inside the 98 Cent Store.

The SUV struck two women inside the store, and the driver was trapped in the vehicle until Watsonville firefighters rescued him. All three were taken by ambulance to area hospitals.

The incident remains under investigation.

This story will be updated.

Previous articleCommunity briefs—September
Tarmo Hannula has been the lead photographer with The Pajaronian newspaper in Watsonville since 1997. More recently Good Times & Press Banner. He also reports on a wide range of topics, including police, fire, environment, schools, the arts and events. A fifth generation Californian, Tarmo was born in the Mother Lode of the Sierra (Columbia) and has lived in Santa Cruz County since the late 1970s. He earned a BA from UC Santa Cruz and has traveled to 33 countries.

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