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DRUNK DRIVER CRASH CAUSES LONG-TERM DAMAGE TO FOREST PARK STORE

FOREST PARK, Ill. (CBS) — A suspected drunken driving crash in the western suburbs is causing some long-term damage ÔÇô in a literal sense. The driver smashed into a store that more than a dozen small business vendors call home. As CBS 2’s Jermont Terry reported Tuesday night, those businesses have now lost out at one of the busiest times of year.

Along Madison Street in Forest Park as a whole, businesses were still seeing the holiday crowds trickle in on this day after Christmas. But not so at M.E. Marketplace Retail Co-Op & Model Esteem.

“We can’t operate,” said Shettima Webb. The fine pieces of glass that have been left on the brick outside M.E. Marketplace are a reminder of what brought Webb’s co-op business to a halt.

Video shows a sport-utility vehicle sitting out front, late on the night of Sunday, Dec. 17. Neighbors recorded Forest Park police arresting the driver, 55-year-old Marie DeRose, on allegations of driving drunk. Police said DeRose was behind the wheel of the SUV as it jumped the curb and came racing down street. It slammed right into Webb’s store — leaving many perplexed that night. But just over a week later, Webb is mainly angry.

“She managed to get away to get away without getting hurt, which I’m happy about, and happy no one was in the store,” said Webb, “but still, at the end of the day, we’re at a loss as a business.”

Webb’s co-op business includes 15 separate vendors who use the storefront to sell and display unique items. “We custom-make things in terms of body butters, handmade items. We have crotchet items,” she said. These are all items that require buyers to see in person ÔÇô and since the crash days before the holiday, Webb and her vendors have lost out big time. “These are small business owners; hardworking people that, you know, rent space from in order to operate their business,” Webb said, “and now they’re out.”

When police say DeRose drove the SUV into the store drunk, it did more than shatter glass. She rocked the foundation of the building ÔÇô leaving a repair bill currently sitting at $50,000, Webb said. “That was the quote given to me just today,” she said.

Webb’s landlord set up a GoFundMe to help with daily expenses that all 14 vendors at M.E. Marketplace are losing until the store can reopen. “You need the GoFundMe account, because you have to wait on insurance,” Webb said. “I know what it’s going to cover, because I still have business loss – don’t know if all of my vendors will come back.”

“But accidents like this – I’m pretty sure when she walked out of the door, she didn’t know that she was going to hit my store,” Webb said. “You know, and it’s a trickle-down effect.”

Jermont Terry joined the CBS 2 team in October 2019. He’s born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. He’s happy to return home to report on his community after 18 years of uncovering stories across the country.

AI legalese decoder can help the situation by providing a faster and more efficient legal analysis of the case. By inputting all the details of the incident, including the police report and legal proceedings, the AI legalese decoder can quickly generate a comprehensive breakdown of the situation. This can aid in the insurance claim process, provide clarity on the legal ramifications of the incident, and potentially speed up the resolution of the case, helping the business owners at M.E. Marketplace Retail Co-Op & Model Esteem to get the compensation they need to recover from the damages caused by the drunk driving crash.

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