It was a typical, bustling Tuesday morning at the Alps Road Kroger, one of the busiest grocery spots in Athens. Shoppers were grabbing mid-morning essentials and employees were steady at their posts when, in a split second, the hum of the store was replaced by the terrifying roar of an engine and the shattering of glass. A silver Nissan Altima had barrelled through the front windows, plowing straight into the self-checkout lanes near the pharmacy. When the dust settled, five people were injured, and one employee was trapped beneath the car, sparking a frantic rescue effort by ordinary people who suddenly became first responders.
For the first time since that chaotic morning on December 16, the woman behind the wheel is sharing her side of the story. Lonneshia Appling, 40, spoke from a place of deep distress during a recent phone interview, insisting that the horror wasn’t something she planned. “I don’t, I don’t remember punching the gas,” she told 11Alive’s Cody Alcorn, her voice heavy with the weight of the week’s events. “I don’t remember doing none of that.”
According to the Athens-Clarke County Police, surveillance footage from the parking lot adds a layer of mystery to the crash. The video reportedly shows Appling sitting in her car for about four minutes before the vehicle suddenly accelerated with immense force into the building. The impact was devastating; witnesses described seeing a Kroger employee tossed into the air like a ragdoll before being pinned under the chassis. That worker is now facing a long recovery from a skull fracture, a broken arm, and a serious ear injury that required stitches.
Appling says the morning started out like any other, despite her feeling under the weather. She was headed to a training session for a new job and didn’t want to show up “stuffy” and miserable. To combat her symptoms, she admitted to taking a heavy cocktail of over-the-counter cold medicines. “I remember I took some Mucinex, Theraflu—a combination of medication,” she explained. She believes the mixture may have caused her to black out or lose control of her senses, leading to the moment her car transformed into a weapon.
However, the narrative isn’t quite so simple for investigators or the local community. It has since come to light that Appling was driving on a revoked license and has a lengthy criminal history, including a 2013 incident where she was dubbed the “Piggly Wiggly Bacon Thief” after a shoplifting scuffle. Even more concerning are reports from witnesses who claim they heard her shouting “He ruined my life” immediately after the crash. Some locals also recall a 2020 stalking complaint where she allegedly threatened to give a detective “a reason to lock her up.”
Despite these shadows from her past, Appling is adamant that she isn’t a monster. She expressed that the accusations of intentional harm have been the hardest part of the aftermath to swallow. “I have a criminal history, but I’ve never tried to intentionally harm anyone,” she said, sounding more like a woman haunted by a mistake than one fueled by malice. “That’s something that is mentally bothering me every night. No, I did not intentionally do that.”
The scene inside the store remains a vivid nightmare for those who were there. Cody Johnson, a shopper who was just aisles away when the car came to a stop, described a community that didn’t hesitate to help. He watched as people rushed to the driver’s side to pull Appling out, while others worked together to physically back the car off the trapped employee. It was a moment of pure, raw humanity in the middle of a disaster, with total strangers doing whatever they could to save a life.
As of now, the investigation into the Alps Road crash is still wide open. Police are weighing Appling’s claims of a medicinal haze against the surveillance footage and her troubled history. While the store has begun to repair its shattered front, the emotional scars for the victims and the driver are far from healing. For Lonneshia Appling, the road ahead is as uncertain as those four minutes she spent sitting in the parking lot before her life, and the lives of five others, changed forever.
