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Texas waitress saves boy, takes impact of car that crashed into restaurant

A car barreled through an Italian restaurant in Texas during the dinner rush, and the actions of a waitress helped save a boy from being struck.

A waitress in Texas leaped to help a young boy after an out-of-control car barreled through a local Italian restaurant on Saturday. 

Linh Tran Flores and her family were just settling into their seats to enjoy a weekend dinner at Gino's Italian Restaurant in Round Rock, Texas, when they heard an ear-splitting crash. 

"In my head I thought someone had just dropped a large tray of something, whether it glasses or plates or something," Flores told Fox 7.

She said when she turned around, she saw a car crashing through the restaurant, leaving shattered glass and debris in its wake.

"As it’s coming through the restaurant, it’s pushing over chairs, and so we all get knocked off our chairs," Flores said. 

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The mother immediately feared for her children's safety because they were in the car's direct path. 

"They go flying underneath tables, and it happened so quick it, I was just in shock, and I was so scared that they had been hit by the car, I wasn’t sure what happened, and then I yelled for them and then saw them kind of crawl out, so I had this huge sense of relief," Flores said.

Gina Minardi, the co-owner of the restaurant, said a waitress sprang to action and pushed the little boy away from the oncoming car. 

"The server was right by the table, and she pushed the little boy away, or he would have been hit head on," Minardi said. 

The waitress was hit by the car and broke her leg in the crash.

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Round Rock Police and Fire Department responded at 5 p.m. to reports of the crash and to rescue those injured. 

"Like seriously, I could just cry because it was so scary on how fast it happened," Minardi said. "And it could have been so horrible, even worse, but they came in like if the entire restaurant was taken down and so many showed up, and they need to get so much credit for that because if it wasn’t for them, I don’t even know where we would have been."

Round Rock PD said two people were taken to the hospital and six others were injured. Flores said her children walked away with bumps and bruises that can be healed but have a sense of fear that’s going to take some time to heal.

"They don’t even want to eat out anywhere right now, they’re just so nervous," Flores said. 

Round Rock police say the crash appears to be unintentional as the driver was elderly and showed no signs of intoxication. No criminal charges were filed.

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