Crash into restaurant said intentional

Havelock police say a Newport man intentionally crashed his car into the Bayside restaurant Monday morning in hopes of getting the attention of a woman.

Donnovan Kendell Yates, 23, faces multiple charges as a result of the incident that happened at 4 a.m. on Monday.

Yates and two others were injured, but authorities said the injuries were not life-threatening.

Yates was been charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, injury to real property and reckless endangerment, according to Havelock police.

After discussing the case with the Craven County District Attorney's office, police added a felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon inflicting serious injury against Yates.

“The crash was not accidental in nature but was the result of an intentional act brought on by a domestic dispute,” Havelock Police Chief G. Wayne Cyrus said in a statement.

He said Yates became upset because a female acquaintance was speaking to another man inside the 24-hour restaurant.

“Yates made a decision to drive into the building in an effort to harm himself in the hope of garnering attention from the female acquaintance,” Cyrus said.

The woman and the man had apparently left the restaurant before Yates drove his 2004 Ford Escort through the front part of the building.

Curtis Adams, a co-owner of the restaurant at 700 East Main St., was sitting in a booth drinking coffee when the vehicle busted through, smashing six booths and nine tables.

Adams suffered a cut on his forehead and was taken to CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern.

Adams received 19 stitches over his left eye and was released from the hospital, according to Sandy Sides, a cook at the restaurant. Sides said they think it was a table that struck him in the head.

Yates was also transported to CarolinaEast with minor injuries.

John Adams, father of Curtis Adams and a co-owner of the business, injured his arm but was not transported for his injuries.

“My arm’s skinned up real bad,” he said. “It sounded like a bomb went off and you couldn’t see anything by the things flying all over the place.”

According to a witness, 10 people were inside the 25-year-old Havelock business when Yates drove through the front, smashing the brick façade and taking out two picture windows.

A witness said the vehicle had been traveling westbound on East Main Street when it turned into the parking lot and struck the restaurant.

Tables, booths, chairs and condiments remained scattered over the dining room hours after the wreck.

The restaurant was serving only coffee at 6 a.m. to a small group of long-time customers, but has since closed. By Monday afternoon, workers were cleaning up, and a crew was placing sheets of plywood over the hole where the car had entered the building.

“We’re waiting for the insurance adjuster,” said Sides. “We’re closed until it gets repaired and the building inspector and the health inspector OK it. We just can’t open back up. We’re waiting and ready to get in there and get it cleaned up.”

Longtime customer John Hancock, of Havelock, seemed convinced the business would pick up the pieces.

“Bayside is like the Energizer bunny,” he said. “It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’.”

Yates was arrested and placed in the Craven County Jail under a $15,000 bond pending a Dec. 3 trial appearance, according to the release from the city.