'We lost everything': Food truck owners struggle to reopen after drunk driver crashes into business

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – A Milwaukee couple is left with little options after a drunk driver crashed into their food truck.

"In my head, I thought one of them had died," Marta Lopez said.

Lopez and her husband, Jesus Martinez, own Marta's Tamales, a Mexican and Guatemalan restaurant on 551 W. Becher Street. The couple opened the brick-and-mortar restaurant in late 2023 after operating a food truck with the same name for six years on S. Cesar Chavez Drive.

Despite opening up a physical location, the couple continued to serve their cuisine from their food truck until a suspected drunk driver slammed into it on Friday.

"We lost too many things. We lost everything," Martinez said.

This is the second drunk driver to crash into a food truck this year. In February, a woman was cited for OWI after crashing into a food truck on Capitol Drive. No criminal charges were filed in that case due to the Wisconsin state law that does not criminalize a driver's first OWI offense.

Surveillance video obtained by CBS 58 shows the moment a car crashed into the truck. Two employees, including Martinez's sister, were inside. The two had recently turned off the truck's fryer, so the oil inside was cooled off before the crash.

"We're upset, but we are glad because my family, my sister, are okay," Martinez said.

Martinez has been working on repairing the food truck himself, but he said getting it back on the streets will not be an easy or cheap task.

"It's a lot to fix and that means the cost is too big," Martinez explained.

After the crash, witnesses chased down a 21-year-old who was later arrested for suspected OWI.

"I feel good they're arrested, but that doesn't return what I lost," Martinez said.

Lopez said the driver was uninsured and visibly intoxicated along with the two other passengers. Now, the couple is pleading with residents to think twice before drinking and driving because you could rob someone of their livelihood or life.

"If you drink, use an Uber or a Taxi," Lopez said.