Volunteers from the community joined owners and employees of Beyond Borders Cafe in Flossmoor to sweep up broken glass and vacuum dust out of cushions Tuesday, after a driver fleeing Homewood police crashed into the business Monday morning.
Owners Christopher and Jennifer Zarozny said they plan to reopen as soon as possible. Their goal is to be closed for no more than two weeks.
“If it was up to us, we’d be up and running next week,” Jennifer Zarozny said.
The car crashed into the cafe the early Monday after speeding down Sterling Avenue, they said. Christopher Zarozny said the driver was speeding because he was fleeing from Homewood police, and that he was estimated to have been going 80 mph at the time of the crash.
“It wasn’t an elderly person that had a medical condition,” Christopher Zarozny said.
The village of Flossmoor’s statement said the driver was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
“The incident is currently under investigation by the Flossmoor Police Department, and the actions of the Homewood Police Department related to the incident are also being reviewed,” Homewood police Chief Tom Johnson said. “There is no additional information to share at this time.”
Beyond Borders Cafe opened in August of last year.
“I think we ran through every emotion,” Jennifer Zarozny said. “The crying, the anger, the going to comedy about it because what else can you do, you know?”
Despite the damage to their business, the Zaroznys said they’re relieved the accident happened when the cafe was closed and no one was present or walking nearby.
“Generally, as you know, we have people sitting here,” Christopher Zarozny said, indicating the front window of the business. “There could’ve been four dead people.”
Though the car did heavy damage to the cafe’s front wall and covered everything inside in dust and glass, it hit the front of the building side-on and did not go into the cafe itself, meaning the only major repair work will be to the front wall.
“This can be replaced, right? Human life can’t,” Christopher Zarozny said.
Lisa Hawkins, Jennifer Zarozny’s sister, was one of the volunteers helping with cleanup Tuesday. She said she’d also been thinking about how much worse the accident could’ve been.
“I was just shocked,” Hawkins said. “To me it’s kind of selfish. Just pull over.”
The accident also broke a fire hydrant and damaged the building’s gas meter. The situation was especially dangerous because the building has apartments on the upper floors, Hawkins said.
“He busted the gas meter,” Hawkins said. “With the car being on fire, he could’ve blown the whole building up.”
Hawkins said it was painful to see the cafe in disarray after all the work that went into getting the it up and running.
“We’re thankful that the community’s coming together and people are coming here and coming together to help clean up today,” Hawkins said. “It takes a village, for sure.”
Manager Farzana Ecob said she moved to the area from Los Angeles shortly before the cafe opened last July.
“The cafe means a lot to me. I’ve seen it from day one, or day zero,” Ecob said. “I like to think this is everybody’s baby, and to see the baby hurt is really devastating.”
Ecob said her hope for the cafe is that it provides a safe, comfortable space for everyone.
“It’s such a wonderful communal place, and to see it in this state is a little traumatizing,” Ecob said.
However, Ecob said she was certain the business would come out stronger from the accident.
“We have hope, and seeing everybody coming in today and helping out, we’ll persevere,” Ecob said. “Life throws a lot of curveballs at you, but community, at the end, is what thrives and keeps us going, and that’s what everybody is here to do.”
elewis@chicagotribune.com
Evy Lewis
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