‘I thought the building was collapsing’: Car crashes into Detroit coney island with customers inside

‘The bricks were falling over me,’ witness says

DETROIT – A vehicle crashed into a restaurant in Detroit on Saturday.

Marnasia Bracey, 20, said the last thing she expected to happen when she was standing in line at the Zorba Coney Island was an out of control SUV to crash through the front of the building. But that’s exactly what happened.

“I just heard a boom. The bricks were falling over me. I didn’t even know a car had ran into there. I thought the building was collapsing and when I looked up, I see my daddy over me yelling my name -- trying to get the bricks and stuff off of me,” Bracey said.

Update: 2 in custody after fleeing scene where SUV crashed into Detroit coney island

Another angle shows just how powerful the impact was. One young man is suddenly plowed into the other side of the wall.

“I just wish he’d turn himself in. Somebody could really bad during the whole situation was just traumatic,” Marnasia’s father, Marcus, said.

Cameras on the outside show what exactly happened after the crash. The driver and a passenger exit the vehicle and after some scolding they take off.

“I don’t know how you could do that. Like, you run the establishment, you hit people let them for days. Like you didn’t know what what happened. What was going on? You didn’t care?” Bracey said.

Bracey was injured. She said she will never look at coney island restaurants the same after the incident.

“My brother died in 2020 leaving Robert’s Coney Island. So it was really traumatic for us. Like, we didn’t know what was going to happen to me. I didn’t know if it was my time or not,” Bracey said.

Police said they have identified the two people in the SUV and they have not been arrested yet.

Click here to view the GoFundMe information for Bracey.


About the Author

Victor Williams joined Local 4 News in October of 2019 after working for WOIO in Cleveland, OH, WLOX News in Biloxi, MS, and WBBJ in Jackson, TN. Victor developed a love for journalism after realizing he was a great speaker and writer at an early age.

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