{"id":352164,"date":"2026-09-21T04:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352164\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T04:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T04:26:14","slug":"car-crashes-into-lavallette-n-j-restaurant-outdoor-dining-area-killing-1-and-injuring-7-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/352164\/","title":{"rendered":"Car crashes into Lavallette, N.J. restaurant outdoor dining area, killing 1 and injuring 7 others"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Part of a Lavallette, New Jersey, liquor store was boarded up and a bouquet of flowers was left outside Sunday night, somber reminders of a horrific crash that killed a woman a day earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators say it happened just after 11 a.m. on Saturday outside of Meg&#8217;s Grill on Grand Central Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>Police say a 93-year-old woman was driving a Buick Encore and while attempting to park pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, plowing into the restaurant&#8217;s outdoor dining area and then slamming into the building.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It came in and it actually crunched in the wall of the liquor store,&#8221; witness Andy Moesch said.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/11-dhaliwal-image.jpg#.jpeg\" alt=\"11-dhaliwal-image.jpg \" height=\"349\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  The aftermath of an accident on Grand Central Avenue in Lavallette, New Jersey, on Sept. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>                CBS News New York<\/p>\n<p>Officials said 56-year-old Ursula Keating from Toms River was killed and seven others suffered a variety of injuries. Police said Keating is the wife of the Silverton fire chief.<\/p>\n<p>The 93-year-old driver sustained minor injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses described a chaotic scene.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My husband and I came running and I was going [call] 911. My husband was directing traffic,&#8221; witness Susan Wright said. &#8220;We couldn&#8217;t really do anything. Police were here. Fire department was here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Barr lives across the street and said she heard the deafening sound.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I heard glass breaking, a bang, crack and just screaming,&#8221; Barr said.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the owner of Meg&#8217;s Grill addressed Keating and her family, saying, in part, &#8220;I cannot imagine the loss you are feeling and my heart and my thoughts are with you all. Your daughter was a true hero on this day. She held your hand and kept you calm and never left your side. I hope your hearts can heal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The crash is now raising questions among some residents about protection for outdoor dining areas located just feet from parking spaces and traffic.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have sat exactly in that spot,&#8221; one person said. &#8220;When you have outdoor dining, you need jersey barriers, something that protects people from either a car out of control.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The police investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Part of a Lavallette, New Jersey, liquor store was boarded up and a bouquet of flowers was left&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2227,775,1066,9,11,10],"class_list":["post-352164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-car-crash","tag-jersey-shore","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}