Charles Michael Hager, 74, is being charged with assault with a deadly weapon and damaging property after he drove a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta into a Verizon Wireless store in North Carolina Friday.
A witness told a 911 operator that he saw Hager standing outside the store ranting about his broken phone and demanding they reopen so they could fix it.
“He was demanding to get his phone fixed,” the unidentified caller said, later adding: “He said: ’My damn phone’s not working. I need help. Open this damn door.”
When the employees repeated the store was closed and they could not let him in, Hager proceeded to kick the door, shattering glass, then drove his car through the glass storefront where six the employees were standing but no one was injured.
“There’s no front door. All the glass is shattered. It’s amazing. His front end is still inside the front door. I’ve never seen anything like it,” the witness told the 911 operator.
Onlookers said Hager got out of his car after the crash that occurred at an upscale shopping center in Raleigh and continued to yell.
Hager was released on $7,500 bond and is due back in court in September.