KANSAS CITY, Mo. Officers with the Excelsior Springs Police Department were called to the Clay-Ray Veterans Hall after a second car this year crashed into its roof.
At about 7:20 a.m. on Wednesday, officers were called to the Veterans Hall at 208 Veterans Memorial Drive.
According to police, the car had crashed through the roof of the building, and the engine was lying in the front yard.
Police said a man was driving on Linwood Avenue when his car launched off the cliff, tumbled through the trees then flipped right onto the roof.
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Officers with the Excelsior Springs Police Department are on the scene of a crash at the Clay-Ray Veterans Association Building after a second car this year crashed into its roof. -
Officers with the Excelsior Springs Police Department are on the scene of a crash at the Clay-Ray Veterans Association Building after a second car this year crashed into its roof. -
Officers with the Excelsior Springs Police Department are on the scene of a crash at the Clay-Ray Veterans Association Building after a second car this year crashed into its roof.
FOX4 spoke with Excelsior Springs Police Lt. Ryan Dowdy about the crash. He said the curve of the road makes it hard to see the cliff on the other side.
“There’s this cliff face that’s on the back side of Saint Louis Avenue that’s hidden by this tree line,” Dowdy told FOX4. “Essentially, they launch off the cliff face, and they end up on the roof here.”
The building was empty when the crash happened Wednesday morning.
The driver was able to walk to the ambulance on his own and was taken to the hospital. However, his current condition is unknown.
Dowdy said speed was likely a factor.
“You have to pay attention,” he said. “Speed is going to solve a lot of these problems. If you’re driving a million miles to nothing, of course you’re going to miss the single yellow arrow sign that’s telling you the road curves to the right.”
This marks the second time since February that a car drove into the roof of the Veterans Hall.
“Two years from now, it’ll be 100 years that we’ve been here, and it’s the first time we’ve had one car crash into the roof—let alone two of them,” said Rusty Herrington, vice commander with the Clay-Ray Veterans Association.
Herrington said repairs to the building from the first crash were nearly complete.
“It’s quite a shock for it to happen again,” he said. “We just went through all this money and everything to fix the other part. Now it’s the same thing, just over in the bar area instead of in the kitchen.”
They were only weeks away from reopening.
“It’s just heartbreaking, especially when it comes to the community,” Herrington said. “It’s an American Legion. We help veterans in any way we can. It’s put a big damper on things moving forward.”
If you’d like to help the Veterans Association with repairs and lost revenue, the Association’s president asks that donations be sent through Venmo. The Clay-Ray Veterans username is @cstull1973
You can also send donations by mail to the following address:
Clay Ray Veterans
P.O. Box 297
Excelsior Springs, MO 64024.
Make checks payable to “Clay Ray Veterans.”
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash that occurred Wednesday morning. Dowdy said charges could be filed once the cause is determined.
“So as long as he didn’t have any medical condition, we are going to charge him with something that could be as minor as careless driving – or if he was determined to be impaired, he could face a charge for that. But we just don’t know at this point,” Dowdy explained.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned with FOX4 News for the latest updates and information.
