NOLA.com20%
Algiers Italian restaurant making major repairs after car crashes into front door: ‘A close call’ 30%
By Marco Cartolano0%
5/21/2026, 12:53:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Authority, and Optimism Bias, with Availability Heuristic as the most egregious example at 26% saturation with 103 hits. Analysis detected 640 faulty-reasoning hits from 396 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.5% and a BS Rank of 30% (11,715 of 16,550 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 70.80% of the article peer group.
It felt like an explosion had hit Olive Branch Cafe when a car crashed through the front Wednesday, sending steel and dislodged wood through the restaurant and narrowly missing staff and customers.
“At some point, I almost felt like crying.
It was so crazy.
This is our livelihood, we all work here,” Shaun Wattigney, the restaurant’s general manager, said Thursday, standing amid the debris.
The car plowed into the front of the Algiers location of the local Italian restaurant at 5145 General de Gaulle Dr. in the Tall Timbers neighborhood at around 2:50 p.m., according to New Orleans police.
Restaurant owners said the pizzeria will be closed until further notice after the crash.
Repairs are underway after a car crashed into the front door of Olive Branch's Algiers location.
Security camera footage showed the car rapidly crashing into the restaurant as customers and staff sat inside, near the scene of the collision.
The car’s front was significantly damaged.
The driver and some customers were taken to a hospital for minor injuries, police said.
Staff were back in the restaurant Thursday morning, working to clear the wreckage.
Boards had been installed near a portion of the wall that was once the entrance, while carpets and seating had been removed.
The handrail by the entrance was slightly dislodged and wobbly.
“It could have been a lot worse; it was definitely a close call for a couple of folks,” owner Russell Autry said in a video posted to social media Wednesday.
As Autry used a fire extinguisher on the smoking car, Wattigney said he checked to see if anyone was under it.
“It was loud.
The whole building shook.
We didn’t know what it was,” Wattigney said.
Restaurant management hoped to reopen The Olive Branch Cafe as soon as possible, but Wattigney said it could take until Saturday for dine-in service to resume.
The crew may begin to take online orders and carryout sooner.
The restaurant also has a location in Marrero at 1995 Barataria Blvd.
The driver was cited for reckless operation and the cause of the crash remains under investigation, police said.
Wattigney urged other drivers to slow down on General de Gaulle, saying at least three cars had veered onto the restaurant’s property during his time working at Olive Branch Cafe.
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