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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Alcohol, drugs not a factor in Ultracuts crash

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 04/8/2012 11:38 AM | Last Modified: 04/8/2012 4:14 PM | Updates

Winnipeg police take GPS measurements at the scene of a Ultracuts on Portage Avenue and Cavalier Drive on Sunday. On Saturday, a Jeep burst through the salon and crashed inside, injuring two people. (JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Firefighters assess and discuss their extrication options after a vehicle a tore through Ultracuts at Cavalier and Portage late Saturday afternoon. A woman was reportedly pinned to a wall when the vehicle came to a stop. (CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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A red SUV is seen from the back of of the Ultracuts on Portage Avenue near Cavalier Drive after it plowed through the front window on Saturday. (CAROL SANDERS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Alcohol and drugs were not a factor in a crash that caused an SUV to smash through a Portage Avenue hair salon, police said on Sunday.

The crash, which happened at about 5:45 p.m. on Saturday, was caused when a 32-year-old male driver lost control of his vehicle while travelling north on Rouge Road, a police release said.

The Jeep Liberty zoomed across Portage Avenue and slammed into the front of the Ultracuts salon at Portage and Cavalier Drive, striking two employees before burying itself in the salon’s back wall.

"I felt it," said Neoma Green on Saturday.

Green was working at the flower shop next door to the hair salon in the Crestview Shopping Centre. She heard a huge boom and the building shook just before 6 p.m., closing time at Ultracuts.

Two women in the salon were rushed to hospital, including one in serious condition. Unconfirmed reports said one of the injured women was an employee who was pinned by the vehicle.

Green said she went to the back of the building and saw paramedics performing CPR on an Ultracuts employee.

"They pulled her out the back," Green said.

Another woman walked through the front of the demolished building, she said. She was in stable condition on Saturday.

On Sunday, police wouldn't comment on the condition of either woman.

Doug Henry and his 12-year-old son, Nick, were headed west on Portage Avenue when they witnessed the accident. They'd stopped at the intersection of Portage and Rouge Road to make a U-turn and saw a northbound red Jeep on Rouge Road fail to slow down when it got to Portage.

"He went flying through there," Nick said.

The SUV drove through the busy intersection, up over the median and into the parking lot of the Canada Safeway and strip mall across the street.

The speeding vehicle wove around parking barricades and rammed into the Ultracuts outlet in the strip mall, Henry said.

"I thought it was some kid," said Henry, who went to the scene of the crash and located the driver. It wasn't a kid, he said, but a man who got out of the Jeep.

"He said he couldn't stop."

The driver was taken to hospital in stable condition.

Police continue to investigate.