By LYNDA KINSEY
Of The Sun

A 22-year-old female driving a Ford F-150 crashed into the front of the Mineral Springs Seafood building in the early morning hours on Saturday, Aug. 15th taking out almost the entire front of the market. It appears the truck struck the corner of the building taking out the front, and a split on the south side of the building was also caused by the accident.

The driver was ejected from the vehicle during the crash and suffered serious injuries. The truck landed partially on its side losing its wheels on the right side.
Kim Williams, owner of the market, said Saturday, she was pretty shaken by the incident. She and husband Tim have operated the seafood market for 20 years – his dad ran it for 10 years before that. Williams said she didn’t know what they were going to do – lose thousands of dollars worth of inventory over the weekend and not be able to operate at all.
Her first concern however was that she hoped the driver was going to be OK.
“She’s lucky to be alive,” Williams said of the driver after seeing the damage. “Material items can be replaced but you cannot replace a life.”
The driver was transported to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
According to Williams, the cooler was intact and undamaged, the ice machine was fine and the processing room was not damaged. When the crash happened and the front was struck it threw the door and other items to the inside smashing the glass on the long display case where the seafood is put out. The case that houses the dips was undamaged.
Williams also commended the great community we live in and how many people came to help.
“A lot of people have shown up to help today. Jeff Lewis came with his big tractor and took care of a lot of the larger debris items,” she said.
When asked if they were going to be able to operate, Williams shouted out to Junior: “Junior, do you think we will be able to operate?”
His reply was, “Seven days a week from 10 to 6.”
On Sunday afternoon the front of the building had been secured and a line of people were out front waiting to purchase their seafood. Customers couldn’t go inside the building, but they brought it out to you.
An employee at Mineral Springs said on Monday that they just about sold out of everything for the weekend.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the truck was northbound on U.S. 98 in Panacea around 3:25 a.m., and the driver lost control on the curve and struck the building, which was unoccupied at the time.
The driver’s condition was reported as serious but stable.
The FHP was assisted by the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office and Wakulla Fire Rescue.
A GoFundMe has been set up to assist with costs of repairs to the building and to keep the business running. As of Tuesday, $2,600 had been raised towards the goal of $20,000.