Pickup’s driver loses control, smashes vehicle into wall at Chico fast-food restaurant – Chico Enterprise-Record

CHICO — A motorist apparently lost control of her pickup and crashed into a decorative wall just outside a north Chico fast-food restaurant around midday Thursday.

Chico Police and Fire departments received a call at approximately 12:05 p.m., alerting them that a vehicle had run into the side of a building at Jack in the Box, 2542 The Esplanade, just north of East Avenue. It turned out the Ford pickup had crashed into a short wall about six feet in front of the structure, leaving the restaurant facility unaffected.

A fire crew responding to the crash left the scene after it was clear there was no emergency. Two Chico police officers stayed at the scene and interviewed the pickup’s driver. The pickup came to rest blocking the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, as well as the bicycle lane on The Esplanade. Debris such as plastic and some metal, apparently from the crash, littered the first traffic lane.

The driver said she did not wish to identify herself nor give any account of how the crash took place.

Traffic was slow in the area already as lane closures — due to road construction about half a mile east on East Avenue — had already caused some congestion during the lunchtime commute. Staff from the restaurant blocked access to the restaurant’s drive-through lane as a result of the crash, allowing people already in the lane to get their orders and then depart.