FORT WORTH — A Mexican restaurant in northwest Fort Worth was heavily damaged early Wednesday morning when a police pursuit ended in its dining room.

Sansom Park police chased a suspect vehicle into Fort Worth's jurisdiction around 12:30 a.m. The car went out of control in the 1600 block of Northwest 25th Street, smashed through a wall of the Hernandez restaurant and erupted in flames.

"The public health department was here and told us that we were shut down until we get the wall up and running again," said restaurant owner Daniel Hernandez.

Because of the hour, no customers or employees were inside the building at the time of impact.

Samson Park police did not provide information about why the suspect was being chased or whether that person was hurt in the crash.

Hernandez said his restaurant — a landmark at the corner of Northwest 25th Street and Prairie Avenue for 18 years — would not likely reopen soon.

"As far as a budget and time-wise, I can't be exact there until we get up and running and have the inspector come out and then give us the OK to open up again," he said.

Hernandez said this was not the first time a vehicle had crashed into his restaurant, although he said this time was much worse than the first.

WFAA-TV photojournalist Mike Zukerman contributed to this report.

E-mail cvega@wfaa.com