UPDATE: Man's Leg Amputated After Buick Crashes Into Sam's Club Food Court

By Greg Cohen

A 76-year-old man's leg was partially amputated after he was struck by a car that crashed through a door and into the food court of the Sam's Club in Gaithersburg just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, Montgomery County police said. 

Dimas M. Chavez, of the 11700 block of Gregerscroft Road in Potomac, was flown by helicopter to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore with life-threatening injuries, said Capt. Jim Daly, a county police spokesperson.

Two other people were injured in the incident, which remains under investigation.

The four-door 2002 Buick LaSabre crashed through a utility door to the right of the main entrance of the store at 610 N. Frederick Ave. Behind the door is the store's food court, Daly said. The two victims inside—the 76-year-old who lost his leg and a 33-year-old man taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries—were not sitting down to eat, Daly said.

Chavez suffered a traumatic amputation of part of one leg, county police said in a news release Tuesday night. A Gaithersburg police officer and a Montgomery County police officer assisted two unidentified members of the military in providing emergency first aid until county fire and rescue units arrived, the release said.

Sheila R. Orellana, 31, of the 7900 block of Capricorn Terrace in Derwood, was treated for minor injuries. Orellana was in the parking lot with her two children—ages 1 and 3—and pushed them out of the way as the car approached before being struck herself, Daly said. The children were uninjured.

The driver of the car, Subinoy Mazumdar, 77, of the 10800 block of Outpost Drive in North Potomac, was in custody and was being questioned by police Tuesday afternoon, Daly said. Mazumdar was not injured.

Video showed the car being removed from inside the store about 3:30 p.m. The store could not reopen until the utility door was repaired, in order to meet fire code, Daly said.

Police have obtained video of the crash and are using it in their investigation, he said.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the county police department's Collision Reconstruction Unit at 240-773-6620.

Editor Sean R. Sedam contributed to this report.