An Ocala dentist office is back open after drunk driver crashes into the building

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OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) - Just after midnight on Monday surveillance video captures a white Chevy Equinox crashing into Healthy Smiles Dentistry.

“I thought it was the alarm because all the time the alarm goes off and I said oh is it the alarm and he said no no ma’am you have to come here something happened to your building,” said co-owner Dr. Adriana Rick.

Before the truck ran into the building, the driver hit another vehicle, but no one was hurt.

“The whole street was blocked with cars and it was scary when I started coming close to the place I said oh my gosh,” said Rick.

When officers arrived the driver 22-year-old Gabriel Hausy ran away police chased him down and detained him. Officers said he bought alcohol from a bar an hour and a half before the crash.

“I can’t imagine being with a patient especially since we work with kids we see kids as young as four years old so having that happen during working hours I just can’t imagine,” said Dr. Arianne Rick.

The Ricks said city engineers checked out the building and believed it was still good to work in. That’s when they jumped into action to get the place ready for business, knowing they had patients to help.

“We were able to clear up board out the two operatories that were mainly hit by the event and we’re kind of using some spare rooms that we have available,” said Arianne.

Healthy Smiles is still operating and there’s no timetable for when the building will be fixed.

Hausy was arrested for DUI with property damage after a breathalyzer test shows he was almost two times above the legal limit.

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