By Cleve Wiese

Published: May 6, 2008

The Cracker Barrel restaurant in Waynesboro went dark Monday night after a Florida man crashed a rental car into the building’s electrical transformer shortly before closing time.
Glenn Edward Lindie, 38, of Valrico, Fl., plowed into the $30,000 machine around 10:00 p.m. after losing control of a rented 2008 Ford Edge on Apple Tree Lane and careening down a grass embankment into the business’s rear parking lot, said Sgt. Kelly Walker of the Waynesboro Police Department.
Alcohol was involved, Walker said.
Diners were still in the restaurant when the power died, said Steve Balsley, an associate manager at Cracker Barrel. The transformer was completely destroyed, but a repair team replaced it before 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, he said
Lindie, who had been staying in the nearby Best Western hotel, abandoned the heavily damaged vehicle after the accident and caught a ride with an unidentified individual to the Hampton Inn in Fishersville, Walker said. After checking in, Lindie called the Augusta County Sheriff’s Department to report the rented vehicle stolen.
After tracking Lindie to the Hampton Inn, police brought him back to the scene of the accident, where he was arrested at around 11:30 p.m., Walker said.
Lindie has been charged with reckless driving and hit and run on unattended property, both misdemeanors, Walker said.