Vehicle crashes into EarthBend

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BROOKINGS — A car ran into a downtown Brookings business late Wednesday night, and the building owner says he’s upset with the way police handled the accident.

Owner Sarantis Theodosopoulos said authorities never contacted him regarding the extensive property damage, and he didn’t find out about it until nearly eight hours later, when he got a call from a neighboring business. He also alleged that police have treated him disrespectfully as he tried to get answers from them.

The accident was reported at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and occurred in the 400 block of Fourth Street, at EarthBend.

Grantland Wegener, 23, of Brookings, was arrested and charged with driving while his driver’s license was revoked and for failure to report an accident, Lt. Derrick Powers said.

“After the accident, it appears that the driver had left the scene on foot,” Powers said.

The vehicle was a 2005 Pontiac G6. The crash caused “significant damage to the vehicle and the building.”

Wegener was found at his residence a short distance away and an ambulance was called.

“He had an injury as a result of the accident,” Powers said. “He was subsequently transported to the hospital by law enforcement to be checked out.”

Wegener was arrested and transported to the Brookings County Detention Center after he was checked out at the hospital.

Theodosopoulos contacted the Register Friday regarding the incident. He said his primary concern was not being notified about the accident and that the building was left in that condition overnight with no one knowing if there were any dangers of electrical, natural gas, security or structural problems that should have been addressed immediately.

“When something like this happens, we need to know about it,” Theodosopoulos said. “It’s a safety issue.”

He estimated damage to the building at more than $10,000, but an exact amount is not known at this time.

He added that it’s not even the crash itself that has him angry. “Accidents happen. I’m upset about how it was handled.”

Theodosopoulos said he didn’t get the answers, the apology or the police report he was looking for when he went to the department shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday.

Acting Police Chief Dave Erickson said it is the department’s practice to notify business owners if something happens to their property and he would be looking into why it didn’t happen in this case.

“I did apologize to him for not notifying him. It’s not our common practice to let it go unnotified,” Erickson said.

He said the department had no contact information for EarthBend or Theodosopoulos on file. Theodosopoulos said that contact information for EarthBend is on the front of the business.

The phone number on the door is a landline to the EarthBend office.

Erickson said Theodosopoulos was irate when he talked to him, after his initial visit with another officer, and the acting chief said he was respectful and apologized several times for not notifying the building owner.

Theodosopoulos said Erickson refused to apologize and became defensive and disrespectful.

Theodosopoulos was also upset that an accident report had not been made available to him as of midday Friday.

Erickson said that it generally takes three to five business days for copies to be ready for the parties involved. That’s due to the chain of command and approval process reports have to go through before they’re finished. In this case, follow-up information was needed regarding the vehicle and its driver, Erickson added.