One-Stop Crash

Shoppers at East Hampton's One-Stop Market got a jolt along with their milk and newspapers Sunday morning when a car crashed into the store.

"It sounded like an explosion," said Bill Hall, One-Stop's owner. "He really popped it."

Leonard W. Tuft, 75, a Manhattan resident who has a house on Scallop Avenue in East Hampton, was backing his 1988 Toyota out of its parking space in front of the market when the accident occurred. When he put the car in drive, he told police, it lurched forward, jumping the curb.

The Toyota hit a brick wall under a large plate-glass window, staving in the wall and damaging a built-in cabinet inside. The window cracked in several places, but did not shatter.

"If that brick wall hadn't been there, he would've been inside," said Mr. Hall.

The impact, just after 9 a.m., caused a ceiling-high row of shelves to topple onto the front counter. Two employees assigned to cash-register duty "fortunately happened to be standing at the other end," said Mr. Hall. "It was a little quiet at the time. That worked in our favor."

Otherwise, he said, Diana Lakshman, who, an hour later, was calmly tallying purchases, would have been standing right there.

Several customers helped Mr. Hall right the shelves. He and his employees spent the rest of the morning completing an unanticipated inventory, picking through a mound of razor blades, shaving cream, cold medicines, antacids, and Alka-Seltzer - some of which may just have come in handy.