Cleanup continues after driver went airborne, smashes through 2 Burien, WA homes
The Brief
A high-speed crash on Memorial Day in Burien damaged two homes, with a car going airborne and crashing through walls.
The Kollasch family and their neighbors are cleaning up debris and have started fundraisers to aid recovery efforts.
The driver, a man in his 20s, was taken into custody.
BURIEN, Wash. - It was another day of cleanup at two homes damaged in a high-speed crash on Memorial Day in Burien.
Mark Kollasch gave FOX 13 crews a tour of the damage at his home, and it still looks like a bomb went off.
After the crash Monday, workers had to lift the car from the wreckage of two homes.
"Happy Memorial Day, yeah," said Kollasch.
Mark Kollasch says the long holiday weekend turned into a nightmare after a driver was accused of going airborne at a nearby intersection, crashing straight through his house.
"Like 'Dukes of Hazard' to the extreme."
Kollasch says the driver first sailed through the sun room.
"Our dining room table was right here," said Kollasch.
"Didn't hit the floor, there are no tire marks on the floor, it's just crazy," said Kollasch.
The sedan flew so high, it also cleared much of the couple's furniture.
"Our bed is this high, and he like flew over the bed," he said.
Kollasch says the car blasted through two exterior and three interior walls, finally shooting out the other side and into the neighbor's house.
"The guy still had enough force to crush their water tank and the washer-dryer," he said.
"Most of the car was in there," said Kollasch, pointing to a back corner of his neighbor's house. "The whole corner of his house is gone."
On Monday, crews continued cleaning up the drywall and debris.
"The frames are ruined but a lot of the pictures we had up aren't ruined," said Kollasch.
They also picked the family's possessions from the rubble, which will be stored somewhere else for the time being.
"It's going to be our ten-year wedding anniversary this August," said Kollasch, pointing to a wedding photo that was salvaged.
The Kollasch family started an online fundraiser to help them recover.
"We had to buy new clothes, and it's just hard to even think about," said Kollasch.
Friends of his neighbor started a separate fundraiser to help their family recover from the disaster as well.
The Kollasch family is staying with friends currently. They are planning to rent in the short term, and may make a permanent move one day.
"It's like the trauma of coming home to seeing this. It would be hard to feel safe even if it was rebuilt," said Kollasch.
As for the man who was taken into custody, the King County Sheriff's Office says he's in his 20s and was the only person in the car at the time of the crash.
The Source
Information in this story came from the King County Sheriff's Office and original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.
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