DOVER — Sunday morning at exactly 3:45 a.m. a Kia Sorento veered off the road at 119 S. DuPont Highway and crashed into the entryway of The Upper Cut salon in Dover.

The Upper Cut’s assistant manager Alexis Baily says she knows it must have been 3:45 a.m. because the impact knocked the wall clock down and stopped it at that exact minute.

“The fire marshal told me the lady was traveling north on Route 13 and someone cut through the Loockerman Street intersection to turn north onto Route 13, so she swerved to avoid them and crashed into the building,” said Ms. Baily. “But she wasn’t drinking or speeding, according to the police.”

It’s the second time this year that a vehicle has slammed into the shop’s front vestibule, Ms. Baily said.

According to a news release from Dover Fire Department the occupants of the vehicle in this second crash were uninjured and the salon was unoccupied at the time.

After arriving on the scene, emergency crews secured the vehicle and entered the building through a broken window to secure the power.

Since The Upper Cut’s owner was out of town at the time Ms. Baily arrived at 5 a.m. in her place to secure the business, she said.

“The front vestibule was smashed, a window was busted and we have some cracked walls,” she said. “Everyone started showing up around 7 a.m. to help clean up and we had an electrician arrive right away to deal with some live wires that were exposed.”

According to Ms. Baily, the salon had a 9 a.m. class scheduled for their clients that had to be canceled because of the incident. But, after the cleanup was complete and the damage inspected by contractors, they reopened for regular business hours Monday morning.

The inspection and cleanup effort was being led by W. Donald Poore of Workplace Safety Inc.

Ms. Baily was unsure to what extent the building owner’s insurance would cover costs, but said the associated costs will likely include lost business on Sunday and accessibility upgrades to the rear of the building in addition to the damage.

“I think we do have an option to pick out a new design for the front if we’d like when they start repairing it, but I do know that while they’re working we’ll have to add on a ramp in the back to make it accessible for our clients,” said Ms. Baily. “We have a lot of clients with walkers and things.”

Renovation is set to begin immediately and will likely take about a month, she said.

“They are looking to add more stoppers in the parking lot, too, because this is the second time this year that the front vestibule has been hit by a car,” Ms. Baily said.

“The other time we were hit was during work hours and we were sitting up front. A lady was driving and she sneezed three times and thought she had to brake but lost control and crashed. It only messed up the side wall though. Luckily, no one was hurt in that incident either, except for our bushes out front.”

That particular stretch of U.S. 13 seems to be a magnet for vehicular incidents — a fatal pedestrian accident also took place there recently. The Dover Police Department Collision Reconstruction Unit reported that on Oct. 26 a 15-year-old male was struck by a 2014 Kia Forte as he darted into traffic near The Upper Cut.

It was reported that two juveniles crossed the northbound lanes of U.S. 13 just north of Loockerman Street from the center median against the pedestrian crossing signal. Northbound traffic had a green light at the time. As the juveniles reached the right-most travel lane of the highway one of them turned around and sprinted back toward the left-most lane, possibly to pick up a dropped item.

He ran directly into the path of the oncoming passenger car and was hit. He was transported to Bayhelath Kent General Hospital and was later airlifted to Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington. He died on Oct. 28 as a result of his injuries.