Kacey’s Seafood & More reopens after crash

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Kacey’s Seafood & More opened up its doors to customers at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. The restaurant on Fruitville Road has been closed for the past 16 days after an unlicensed 16-year-old driver crashed a car into it.

“I just turned around and I saw the car and it was just very surprising. I would never expect anything like that to happen. So, it was pretty traumatic for the first two days to kind of get over that,” explained Katherine Dumas, a server at the restaurant.

The teen is charged with driving without a license and causing serious injury. When the car came plowing through the restaurant front, it injured a 65-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man. According to Kacey’s Seafood & More co-owner, Catherine Garey, the couple is still in critical condition at the hospital in Sarasota.

“They’ve both made it through multiple rounds of surgeries, and blood transfusions. They are in very serious condition with very serious injuries. They are expected to be transported back up to near where they came from, which is the Minnesota area sometime in the next week or two,” said Garey.

The restaurant has boarded up its front door and windows with plywood in order to reopen. Garey explained they are still waiting on the glass to come in since it’s on a four to six-week wait. The goal, according to Garey, was getting back on their feet as soon as possible.

“We were paying our employees who were working here. So, we kept our payroll going. The fixtures, the finishes, and then there’s the loss of use. So, we have tens of thousands of dollars per week in loss of use,” said Garey.

The restaurants expects to have the glass for the windows in the next couple of weeks.

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