Vehicle crashes through patio on Main Street

The patio at Sawney Beans is destroyed after being struck by a vehicle in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 29th. 

RCMP were at the scene and are investigating. 

Debris from the patio and from the vehicle were scattered throughout the intersection of Main Street and Lumber Avenue. 

“It’s disappointing to say the least,” says co-owner Mark Oommen. He and his brother James own Sawney Beans. 

Video from their security camera shows the incident happened at around 4am. 

“We can see the truck coming in, we can see that they were obviously speeding, very much over the speed limit. And then, yeah, just destroyed the whole patio, went right through the whole thing and then kind of spun back out into the street.” 

Oommen says they’ll send the video to RCMP to assist with the investigation. His understanding is that the police have already located a suspect. 

@steinbach_online Sawney Beans #patio was destroyed Saturday, June 29, 2024. Read more at #SteinbachOnline #speed #crash #restaurant #sidewalk ♬ The Kings Mind - Diego Druck

Looking over the mess that was once their patio, Oommen says, “It’s there one second and it’s gone the next, it’s pretty wild.”  

RCMP are investigating the destroyed patio at Sawney Beans on Main Street in Steinbach. (Photo Credit: Natalia Rempel)

He is not sure if they’ll be able to rebuild the patio this year. Oommen says it will depend on how quickly things move through the insurance process and whether they can find someone to rebuild it. 

This is not the first time their patio has been struck by a vehicle. 

Oommen says in 2022, a car drove into their sidewalk patio which also caused damage, but not nearly as much as this time. 

“It’s the street racers,” he says, shaking his head. “I know they’re trying to work on that but they’re still out there.” 

Oommen is thankful that nobody was killed. He’s not sure of injuries. 

“This kind of stuff is not necessary.” 

As Oommen prepared to clean up the mess, a pedestrian stopped by to express their disappointment in the destruction of the patio. 

Grace said she lives nearby and hears the vehicles racing up and down Main Street every night of every weekend. 

She added that the nights were quiet when construction crews were repairing the street this spring. 

Meanwhile, another resident who lives a couple of blocks south of Main Street, says she also hears the cars racing at night and Johanna says it’s very concerning. 

“At night, you can hear the revving, the shifting of gears, and they’re racing. I’m waiting for a crash, and it makes my skin crawl.”