After they ordered food last week at a favorite downtown Port Townsend eatery, Nell Allen and stepdaughter Whitney Stuart were sitting next to the front window when a vehicle smashed through it and into them.

At about 6:35 p.m. Nov. 14, the two were dining at Hanazono Asian Noodle, 225 Taylor St., when a vehicle jumped the curb and struck the window area to the left of the front door.

“We were in the window that got hit by the Jeep,” Stuart said Nov. 16. “It is kind of hazy. I don’t remember a whole lot.”

The two eat there at least once a month.

“That is one of our favorite places in town,” Allen said, adding they don’t always sit in the same place. “It was just the two of us, so we said, ‘Let’s sit at the window and people-watch.’ We ordered a sushi roll.”

After their order was placed, the two sat atop stools in front of a countertop attached to the wall, sipping cold sake. Then the world crashed around them.

“It was definitely spur-of-the-moment,” Stuart said. “I was sitting there and I was facing (Allen), and then I remember seeing really bright headlights. I turned my head away, and then the next thing I knew I was hit and flying a couple feet back.”

“We both screamed and flew back, because when the car hit — it hit the glass, but it also hit the (door) frame,” Allen added. “The eating counter … hit up against our knees, and it pushed us back. We didn’t go super far, because right behind our chairs were the chairs of the people behind us with people sitting in them. But it threw us back.”

Allen said the impact caused one of her shoes to fly off her foot. Both women said they sustained bruises to their knees.

“We were just standing there in a pile of glass and debris,” Stuart said.

Other restaurant patrons “jumped up right away to help us,” Allen said. “We were shaking — it was instant adrenaline — and we sat down, and we were freezing. People were offering us their coats. They were really sweet.”

The driver, whose name has not been released, immediately exited his vehicle to check if anyone had been hurt, Allen said.

“The driver was very kind,” she said. “He crashed, the window came down, and I looked out the window to see what the hell just happened and, by then, he was out of the driver’s door and was like, ‘Is everybody OK? I am so sorry!’”

The crash is believed to have been driver error, with no suspicion the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, said Keppie Keplinger, Port Townsend Police Department public information officer.

“The cause is believed to be accidental,” Keplinger said. “As far as I know, no DUI, no arrests and no charges are pending. I think it was one of those kinds of accidents that somebody lost control of their vehicle.”

The vehicle was heavily damaged and towed from the scene, Keplinger said.

Either the driver or one of two unidentified passengers in the vehicle received a minor injury to their leg, and paramedics provided aid on scene, Keplinger said.

“The medics did show up to evaluate the leg injury, but (the police report) doesn’t say that anybody was transported to the hospital,” she said.

Surreal experience

The experience was both traumatic and surreal, Allen and Stuart said.

“I remember screaming, and then I came to,” Stuart said. “Everything clarified, and I looked down at my body, and everything was fine. I looked down at (Allen), and she was fine. We just kind of looked at each other and were just shaking and in complete shock. We just sat down and the cops came in and the firefighters came in and were making sure we were OK.”

The restaurant was closed following the incident. The window was boarded up, and the eatery reopened the following day.

Before the employees closed, they made sure to give Allen and Stuart the food they had ordered to go, Allen said, adding it was on the house.

“They said, ‘Do you still want your sushi?’ And I said, ‘Sure. We will take it to go, please.’ ”

New take on life

“The (responding) officer told us we were lucky the door beam was there or we might be dead,” Allen said, adding the experience was “actually quite terrifying.”

Stuart said she gained a new appreciation for life.

“I was so glad we were OK, but really, what got me was how fast it happened,” she said. “One minute, we are completely fine and laughing, and then the next minute we are screaming. For all I know, in that second, it could have all been taken away, and it wasn’t. That is unbelievable to me, and I am so glad.”

Stuart said she was in shock for about two days following the incident.

“I have been crying a lot,” she said. “I am scared, but I am also so happy. I mean, there are so many things in my life that I haven’t done. I am so young, and I have such a beautiful family and an amazing partner and thinking about never seeing them again, I am so grateful that I did. It just terrified me to think about how quickly it can be taken away from you.”

That sense of mortality “makes everything so much more important,” Stuart continued. “It puts it all into perspective what you really want to do and who you really want to be spending time with, and how long you want to be mad over a petty fight.”

Repeat customers

Both Allen and Stuart said they will return to Hanazono Asian Noodle in the future but they won’t be likely to sit next to a window for some time.

“It is a great establishment,” Stuart said. “It is not their fault whatsoever. And it is not even the driver’s fault. It was a complete accident. 

“There is no anger towards the restaurant, and no anger towards that man. I am just so happy that everybody is OK.”