McCaffrey’s Shoppers and Staff Carry On In the Wake of Last Tuesday’s Accident

Ellen Gilbert

“It could have been a lot worse,” observed McCaffrey’s office manager Nina Robinson several days after a car crashed through the front of the Princeton store. “Tuesday is Senior Day, and it’s amazing that no one was walking through the door when the car came through.”

The injuries that were sustained at the time by three people were reported not to be “life-threatening.” In addition to the driver, 74-year-old Daniel Issacs of Hillsborough; the injured were McCaffrey’s cashier Christian Brault, 20, of Lawrenceville; and customer Carol Kelly, 56, also from Lawrenceville. Both were released from the hospital shortly after the incident.

Mr. Isaacs’s status had not been updated at press time. “Customers are asking how he is,” reported Ms. Robinson. It has not yet been determined what caused Mr. Isaacs to lose control of the Honda he was driving.

Mr. Isaacs appeared to be awake after the crash occurred, Ms. Robinson said. She herself had “just walked through the door” before the accident. “Debris was flying and there was a real haze,” she recounted. “He hit the curb so hard that he ripped the concrete right in half.”

Although the store was evacuated in the hours immediately after the accident, it reopened when it was determined that no major structural damage had occurred.

On Monday morning workmen from Besam, a company that specializes in automatic doors, were on the job. “The person who ran through the door messed up a lot of block work and masonry,” said Rick Gregg, a Besam employee who was putting in studs so a new door (a “temporary — permanent” solution) could be attached. When the store is closed, large wooden planks cover what was once the door. During business hours, there is a gaping space that customers can freely walk through, subject to whatever work is occurring at the time. “It’s freezing in here,” said Ms. Robinson, whose post at the courtesy desk puts her up front in the store. “They’ve got to get that closed.”

McCaffrey’s woes were not over yet last week. Shortly after noon on the day after the accident a Lawrence Township resident called the police to report that “while shopping at McCaffrey’s earlier in the day an unknown person had stolen her purse.” A release prepared by Sgt. Michael R. Cifelli described the victim as stating that the purse, which had been in her shopping cart, contained “approximately $2,100 worth of miscellaneous items.” The store is “working with the police department to assist in identifying the suspects in the theft,” Mr. Cifelli reported. The investigation was still “ongoing” at press time.

In the meantime, early morning shoppers were picking up fixings for coffee breaks, while others appeared to be doing serious grocery shopping. McCaffrey employee Jeff Haas was completely unfazed by last week’s accident. “I can get hit by a car anywhere,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be here.”

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