Driver plows through downtown attorney’s office

FORT MYERS, Fla.- An attorney’s office in downtown Fort Myers is in clean up mode after a driver plowed into the building early Wednesday morning.

Police say Christopher Donte took out the front office and left a trail of debris down an alleyway.

Gary Moats says his plan for Wednesday was to check on some of the 100 properties he manages.

“I expected a quiet day. (I was) Going to breakfast,” he said.

Instead of breakfast, however, Moats had to clean up the mess Donte left behind.

“There was a desk, TV, file cabinets,” he listed.

A police report outlines what witnesses heard and saw. Donte allegedly left the Cowboy Up Saloon around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Witnesses said he seemed agitated, and was shouting at other people inside the bar. A short while later, people saw him get into his truck and peel around the corner. Within no time, they heard the crash.

“This is a personal injury lawyer, as a matter of fact,” Moats said.

Joseph Gaeta is the attorney who operates out of the building. No one was hurt in the crash, but the only items still standing in the corner office were two ceiling fans. Gaeta worked today regardless of the mess across the hall. Some of his friends who saw the path of destruction were shocked.

“Just trying to reconstruct the events,” said Mark Yeslow. “There’s this bent pole, there’s the hole in his office, there’s another bent pole, then there’s another bent metal pole, then there’s a fence knocked out,” he said pointing at the mess, “It’s just impossible to believe how one person could have done that and, thank God, nobody got hurt.”

Witnesses told police Donte drove his truck out of the building, and down the alley where he took down a fence. Police caught up with him by that time and arrested him for DUI, leaving the scene and driving with a suspended license.