Truck crashes into medical clinic in Cape Girardeau

Shortly before 8 a.m. Monday, a small truck plowed through the windows and walls of Cape Family Care at 2907 Keystone Drive in Cape Girardeau.

The vehicle was well into the waiting room before it came to a stop.

"Nobody was here because it was 7:45 a.m.," said Teresa Bieser, wife of the doctor running the clinic. "By the time we showed up for work in the morning we thought there was a fire, there were so many firetrucks and ambulances."

She and her husband, Robert D. Bieser, moved to Cape Girardeau from Fort Worth Texas about 30 years ago.

"It took us a while to get used to the peace and quiet coming from the noisy big city," Teresa said.

The peace and quiet was broken Monday morning when an elderly woman, driving her husband in to have bloodwork, accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake.

"She parked right in front of our window and, I'll be damned, she floored it and didn't stop. She came through our lobby," Teresa said. Afterwards, "the whole lobby looked like it had been through a tornado. It was terrible ... the good thing is, if it happened at 8 o'clock, she could have killed patients and probably one of our staff members. I'm surprised the roof didn't collapse."

Emergency crews summoned by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department worked to erect pillars to support the roof. Dr. Bieser seemed comfortable with the job they had done, "but if I hear boards creaking I'd get up and leave," he said.

When Bieser offhandedly mentioned his clinic is looking to hire a front desk receptionist, nurse Erika Taylor jokingly chimed in that "they'll have to wear a full body shield in case another truck comes in."

Some patients have suggested erecting metal barricades to prevent a similar situation in the future.

"This is a freak thing, it probably happens once in a million years," said Dr. Bieser.