Family mourns Woonsocket woman killed in Subway crash in Smithfield

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (WLNE) — The family of a Woonsocket woman are navigating through their loss after a crash into a Subway sandwich shop in Smithfield on Wednesday.

Smithfield police said Thursday that 47-year-old Charlotte Vacca of Woonsocket was pronounced dead on scene after a car crashed through the restaurant into the adjacent Planet Fitness. Five others were hurt and the driver is expected to face criminal charges.

Vacca was an employee at the restaurant and was working at the time of the crash.

Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help with her funeral expenses.

The Vacca family wrote that Charlotte was a mother of five children and a “hard working and devoted person.”

“She would give the shirt off her back to make sure our family was taken care of,” wrote a loved one.

The Subway sandwich shop at the Apple Valley Mall in Smithfield is boarded up after a car crashed through the restaurant. (WLNE)

Authorities believe the driver came off Route 44 into the Apple Valley Mall around 3 p.m. and hit a vehicle by Chelo’s before speeding across the parking lot into the Subway.

Police said four people were brought to Rhode Island Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash.

The Subway shop was heavily damaged in the crash and is closed until further notice. The Planet Fitness also had to close due to damages.