CAMAS — When Sindhu Kuhle stopped by Camas Produce the evening of Jan. 10, she expected to see devastation. Instead, she saw the store’s owner, Ali Alquraisha, calmly handing out snacks to community members.
“I just wanted to check on everybody and make sure they were OK,” Kuhle said, of hearing that a vehicle had driven into the store. “Ali was there, and he seemed OK. He gave me some peanut butter to take to my kids.”
Kuhle started shopping at Alquraisha’s grocery store when her kids were babies; one is now a high school senior and the other is in 10th grade.
While Alquraisha has been an integral part of the Camas community since he opened his store 15 years ago, he didn’t realize just how much. That is, until someone drove their SUV through the front of Camas Produce, 2940 N.E. Everett St. Nobody was injured in the crash, the third such incident in the store’s history.
Alquraisha said he hasn’t had any contact with the driver, who police, at the time, said was impaired. It’s unclear if the driver was ever charged or cited.
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