SUV leaves highway, hits parked cars|[12/31/05]

Published 12:00 am Monday, January 2, 2006

Look, in the air, it’s a plane … no, it’s an Armada.

Lunchtime at a local restaurant was interrupted Friday when a Nissan SUV driven by a local physician flew into three diners’ cars from four-lane U.S. 61 North.

At 1:36 p.m., the green 2004 SUV driven by Dr. Michael L. Baker, 41, 1450 Dudley Road, went airborne after running off the highway just south of County Lane, hitting a roadside ditch and its embankment and then smashing three parked cars, Sgt. Jackie Johnson of the Vicksburg Police Department said.

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The vehicle landed in a parking area of Sol Azteca Mexican Restaurant at 1590 U.S. 61 North, where about 20 cars remained from the late-lunch rush.

Authorities and witnesses said Baker said he’d had a sneezing and coughing fit that forced him to black out before losing control of the vehicle.

Baker, who was traveling alone, was taken to River Region Medical Center, about a mile north on the highway. A hospital spokesman said Baker was still in the hospital but was likely to be treated and released.

The owners of the other three vehicles were inside the restaurant at the time and were not injured.

Cindy Wright, 36, of Vicksburg was sitting in her parked Infiniti G35 with her son, Justin Ferguson, 16, when she saw Baker’s SUV fly over her car into a GMC in the next space.

&#8220It’s just a miracle no one else was hurt,” Wright said, adding both she and Justin jumped from her car to avoid the flying Armada. Wright’s car was not damaged.

Jason Smith, 32, of Delta, said he was planning a hunting trip after lunch when the hood of his GMC Z71 was torn off. His brother, Lane Smith of Vicksburg, was among the first to get a call from him.

&#8220When he called, I thought he was going to tell me he got a deer,” Lane Smith said. &#8220When he said what happened, I was like, man!”.

No citation was issued, Sgt. Johnson said.

Baker operates a clinic at Mission Primary Care in Vicksburg and owns another in Yazoo City.