For second time in 3 months, a car crashes into VFW roof in Excelsior Springs

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. (KCTV) - It’s déjà vu all over again for an Excelsior Springs veterans group.

The Excelsior Springs Police Department confirmed Wednesday morning that one person was injured after driving their car through the roof of the Clay-Ray Veterans Hall, which sits on the east side of St. Louis Avenue.

Lt. Ryan Dowdy said that officers were still looking into whether the driver had a medical emergency or if impairment was a factor. He added that the driver could walk to the ambulance before being taken to the hospital.

The car was still stuck in the roof of the building as of 9:15 a.m., and Dowdy said when it will be pulled off, traffic would likley be affected in the area.

On Feb. 15, a car trying to outrun law enforcement on a chase crashed into the roof of the building. 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.

Lisa Reinhart lives nearby and heard both crashes. She showed KCTV5 the impromptu “route” taken both times.

“There’s no way that that could be that again, but then it did,” Reinhart said. “It sounded like a gas explosion going off. It rattled the windows and everything. It was insane.”

Reinhart doesn’t believe the street is the problem, but rather the drivers.

“If you drive the speed limit, it’s not an issue,” Reinhart said. “It’s 25 through here, so it shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re blatantly not listening to the speed limit.”

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