A North Plainfield gas station is going to need more than a full tank to recover from Sunday’s events.
Around 5:44 p.m. on a quiet Sunday evening, Joenesha Stuckey-Vanhorne, 30, of Plainfield, apparently decided that Route 22 West was not quite delivering the excitement she was looking for. Behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Tiguan, she mounted a concrete sidewalk island at what police described as a high rate of speed, because apparently the road itself was optional.
From there, the Tiguan made its way onto the grounds of a nearby Sunoco station, where it proceeded to introduce itself to a concrete retaining wall, a parked Honda Accord that was absolutely minding its own business, and finally, the Sunoco convenience store. The Honda never saw it coming. The store definitely didn’t either.
What Happens When the Charges Are Longer Than the Receipt
An employee inside the store felt the full impact of the situation, literally, reporting pain to his right leg after both vehicles were driven into the building. He declined further medical attention, which, honestly, feels very New Jersey of him.
Stuckey-Vanhorne left the scene with a charge list that reads like a bingo card of bad decisions: DUI, reckless driving, careless driving, speeding across a sidewalk (yes, that is its own charge), failure to wear a seatbelt, no liability insurance, an open container of alcohol, and a traffic violation for marked lanes. If there were a reward for quantity, she would have swept the category.
The Sunoco convenience store suffered heavy damage, including to its gas lines, which prompted the North Plainfield Fire Department to respond, secure the scene, check for injuries, and work on stabilizing both the vehicle and the building structure.
For what it’s worth, the Volkswagen Tiguan is marketed as an adventure SUV. North Plainfield just did not make the itinerary.