‘It’s heartbreaking’: VFW temporarily closes Excelsior Springs location after car crashes through roof
EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. (KCTV) - An Excelsior Springs veterans group will have to find a new place to meet after a vehicle crashed through the roof of their building.
The Excelsior Springs Police Department tells KCTV5 that around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, law enforcement officials observed a vehicle make several traffic violations while driving through the city.
When first responders attempted to pull the driver over, they said he chose to accelerate and attempted to outrun them. A chase ensued which lasted for about 1 minute before the driver veered off the side of Linwood Rd.
The Police Department said the vehicle went airborne and crashed into the roof of the Veterans of Foreign Wars building. The driver and two engers were rescued from the wreckage.
Investigators said the driver, who was found to be a sex offender out of the State of Kansas, sustained multiple fractured bones as a result of the crash. Two juvenile female engers also sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Excelsior Springs Police indicated that all three were taken to area hospitals for treatment. The driver is expected to be booked into jail and charged upon his release from the hospital.
In the early parts of Saturday morning, police ed the Clay Ray Veterans Association president, Chris Stull. He said his phone rang around 3 a.m. on Saturday.
“I was half asleep, I really didn’t know how to react, but I jumped up and started heading down here,” Stull said. “I got down here and I saw lights flashing everywhere.”
Stull told KCTV5 that the vehicle ripped through the roof and landed in the kitchen. Stull believes the kitchen is a total loss. No one was inside the building at the time of the crash.
Stull is a veteran and said he has gone to the building in Excelsior Springs for 30 years. He said the veterans association holds a bingo night every Friday, the nonprofit’s biggest fundraiser. The city told Stull the building was shut down and no one was allowed back in until further investigations.
“It’s heartbreaking. Everybody that’s a member here has to suffer because the building is shut down because of something senseless,” Stull said. “This has been like another home to me and it’s like another home to a lot of people. We try and take care of it ‘cause it means so much to us.”
The group will still be able to meet at different locations, but bingo nights have been postponed until further notice. The nonprofit is always accepting donations.
On Sunday, Feb. 16, the Excelsior Springs Police Department revealed the suspect in a chase that ended when he crashed into the roof of a veterans’ building has been identified as Calen D. Hollis, 22, of Olathe. He has been arrested and remains behind bars in Johnson County, Kansas, as an out-of-state fugitive.
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