Sinkhole closes Starbucks Drive-thru, tries to swallow police cruiser

MANCHESTER, NH – A water main break and resulting sinkhole caused Starbucks on South Willow to temporarily close its drive-thru window  – and disabled a police cruiser, which had to be towed from the scene.

Manchester Police Officer Aaron Stone responded to a water main break outside of a Starbuck’s, 1111 South Willow St., at 5:50 a.m. on December 21. He observed water in the area located between Starbucks and Friendly’s while vehicles proceeded through the Starbucks drive-thru window. Officer Stone strategically placed his police cruiser in the drive through lane to prevent unsuspecting drivers from driving through the pool of water, which had yet to form a sink hole.

As Officer Stone was parking his car, a sink hole opened up and water enveloped the front end of his cruiser while he remained inside of the driver’s seat. He was unable to back the car out of the sink hole and exited through the passenger side door due to the rising water. He guided two vehicles away from the sink hole and ultimately closed off the area so no additional traffic entered the unstable ground.

The cruiser sank deeper into the sink hole before it was removed by a tow truck. The extent of damage to the cruiser has yet to be determined.

A spokesperson for Starbucks said that repairs to the parking lot are underway.  The cafe is open but the drive-thru remains closed, at least until later on Tuesday, she said.

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