The Waffle House Restaurant at 2761 East Andrew Johnson Highway was back in business by 12:30 p.m. Wednesday following a 9:10 a.m. accident in which a pickup truck crashed into the business.

Five persons, including three customers and two occupants of the truck, were injured.

Four were taken by ambulance to Laughlin Memorial Hospital and a fifth drove herself there, police said.

A pre-fabricated metal and glass wall was damaged when a pickup truck crashed into the interior of the restaurant.

The damaged wall was quickly boarded up, according to a restaurant spokesman.

"We closed temporarily, but we re-opened about 30 minutes ago," the Waffle House spokesman said about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

The restaurant, he said, will remain open on its regular 24-hour-a-day schedule.

GPD Officer David Lewis, who is investigating the accident, said he viewed video from the restaurant's security camera system that showed the accident.

Lewis said the video showed the pickup truck pull into a parking space as though the driver was preparing to park.

But the pickup truck did not stop and smashed through the restaurant's wall and into the interior of the restaurant.

Officer Lewis said the truck struck three women who were walking past the checkout counter where two other women were paying for their food.

Officer Lewis identified the driver as Baudelio (B.C.) Lopez, 84, of 2815 Cedar Creek Road. His wife, Rebecca Lopez, 71, was a passenger in the truck.

Lewis said he interviewed the driver at Laughlin Memorial Hospital, where he had been taken for treatment.

He said B.C. Lopez had "no complaints of medical problems," but could not recall what had happened in the accident.

Only the three women who had just entered the restaurant were struck by the truck as it pushed its way into the restaurant, Officer Lewis said the video showed.

Two women and the restaurant's manager narrowly escaped injury, police said. They had been near the place in the restaurant where the Ford Explorer extended-cab pickup entered the building, but were not struck by it.

B.C. Lopez was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, a hospital spokesman said. He was listed in fair condition there this morning.

Rebecca Lopez was treated in the hospital's emergency room and released, the spokesman said.

Customers Tina Whittaker and Renee Freeman also had been treated and released, according to a hospital spokesman.

Tina Slagle also was admitted to Laughlin Memorial Hospital and was listed in good condition there this morning, a spokesman said.

Freeman said she and her friends had traveled to Greeneville to do some Christmas shopping.

"It was like being in a movie," Freeman said of the accident. "I looked up and I said, 'thank God I'm alive.' I don't know how I survived it."

Freeman also said she felt as if she had had an angel on her shoulder during the incident. "There sure was today," she said of the angel.