MIAMI – A store owner said his heart is broken for his employees after a bus crashed into his downtown Miami business Thursday night.
"I think about my Christmastime, I think about my employees, I think about my daughter," Roman Tishen said. "I must take care of my family, but I lose my business now. I don't know what I need to do."
According to police, a Miami-Dade Transit bus was trying to avoid colliding with a red car and ended up crashing into the store at North Miami Avenue and Northwest First Street.
Tishen said $100,000 worth of merchandise in one display alone is gone.
"This vase costs up to $2,500 dollars," he said.
Witnesses said the bus was heading south on North Miami Avenue as a red car went west on First street. Passengers said the bus swerved to avoid a collision, jumped the curb and went right toward the building.
"I hear noise like bomb, like boom, and I come and see the situation with the bus," Tishen said.
There were three passengers and a driver on board that bus. Two people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
"It's amazing that more people weren't involved," Miami Department of Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Pete Gomez said. "This same scenario plays out at 12 o'clock, 1 o'clock in the afternoon, you're talking about a totally different response."
Tishen's employees spent Friday cleaning up the store, which they expect will take several days.
"I'm OK," Tishen said. "But I don't have a business now."