A 19-year-old Lincoln man has been arrested in connection with a serious injury crash at a north Lincoln restaurant that sent a woman and a child to the hospital. LPD Public Information Manager Erika Thomas says Cashius Chandler was arrested Thursday following an investigation by the department’s Traffic Unit.
The crash happened shortly before noon May 9 at the Cuba Restaurant & Bar near 27th and W. “Chandler was driving a white Dodge Grand Caravan north on N. 27th, struck and vaulted over the curbed median just south of ‘W’ Street and crashed into the building,” Thomas says. The restaurant sustained significant damage.
“The investigation determined Chandler was impaired while driving and had been ‘huffing’ behind the wheel, Thomas says. “Officers located an aerosol duster cap in the vehicle and later, based on a tip, found the can in a bush near the crash scene.”
She says video footage obtained confirmed evidence of what occurred before, during and after the crash. Thomas says a 60-year-old Lincoln woman suffered a permanent leg injury that has left her unable to work full time. A one-year-old child was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Omaha with a suspected brain bleed.
Chandler was booked into the Lancaster County Jail on two counts of DUI causing serious bodily injury and one count of willful reckless driving. He has since been released on the reckless driving charge.
(Photo: Lancaster County Dep. of Corrections)