A Gainesville man lost control of his car and smashed into a table outside of Gator Corner Dining Center on Thursday afternoon, leaving a 1,200-pound concrete picnic table in rubble.
Kevin McAllister, 52, was driving shortly after 2 p.m. in a silver Toyota Corolla with his friend, Delzora Ward, when he blacked out while turning onto Gale Lemerand Drive from Stadium Road. He then spun out in the intersection, eventually crashing into a table, a trash can and a light post.
It was the first time he’s been in a car accident, he said.
“I remember just a bunch of coughing. I blacked out, and I remember my friend yelling at me to watch out,” McAllister said. “I remember hitting something, and I couldn’t believe what had happened.”
McAllister, a dialysis patient, was on his way to the medical plaza at UF Health Shands Hospital for a doctor’s appointment for a lung infection. The lung infection, which he has had for a little more than three months, caused him to pass out.
Though McAllister has passed out before, it’s the first time he has while driving.
“Usually when I feel the coughing coming, I pull over real quick and do a lot of spitting,” he said. “This time, it happened too quick.”
Oppong Hemeng, a second-year UF sports management graduate student, was walking to the Tolbert Residence Hall bus stop when he saw the accident.
“He spun out in the intersection,” the 24-year-old said. “He came like he was flooring it.”
The car had minor scratches and dents on the passenger’s side following the crash. The right turn signal was hanging from a wire, but the headlight was otherwise not damaged.
UF Physical Plant Division workers had to use a bulldozer to remove pieces of the table from the top of the car. The rest was broken into rocks on the ground.
“We knew it was a table that was broken, but we weren’t expecting it to be in little pieces,” said Phillip Seay, a grounds maintenance supervisor. “For it to be pulverized like this, he had to have hit it pretty hard.”
Seay said that though the division has dealt with run-over trees after accidents, this is the first time a table has been destroyed. He estimated that the table, made out of concrete and reinforced steel, weighed about 1,200 pounds.
UPD spokesman Maj. Brad Barber said McAllister wasn’t hurt in the accident.
Kevin McAllister, 52, was driving shortly after 2 p.m. in a silver Toyota Corolla with his friend, Delzora Ward, when he blacked out while turning onto Gale Lemerand Drive from Stadium Road. He crashed into a 1,200-pound concrete picnic table in front of Gator Dining.
Physical Plant workers had to use a bulldozer to remove pieces of the table from on top of the car. The rest was broken into rocks on the ground.
