Car crashes into Pasadena bar while employee cleans

PASADENA, Texas – The owner of a Pasadena bar is asking the community to help find the person who drove into her business and then drove off.

“I was in shock, grateful nobody was hurt,” said Jerri Delapp, owner of Sam’s Place.

What happened

She said around 7:40 a.m. Monday, the driver of a white car veered off of the road and drove straight into the front of her bar, located at 6201 Spencer Highway.

“When I got here, I was expecting to see a car in the building, but there was no car, it was gone,” Delapp said.

The driver reversed and drove off through the parking lot, taking a piece of the wall and several chairs with them. Delapp said the debris was found about a block away.

Caught on camera

The crash was captured on surveillance cameras.

The is the car believed to have crashed into Sam's Bar in Pasadena.

“Nobody checked on anybody that was in the building or anything, they just, took off,” Delapp said. “Even a car backed up to let the car back out, and never came in to check and see if anybody was in the building or check on, see if anybody was hurt.”

Close call

One of Delapp’s bartender’s, Ariel Wills, was inside the building. She arrived around 7 a.m. to clean up. She said she usually mops in the area where the car crashed into but decided to get letters to change the marquee outside.

The damage inside Sam's Bar after a car crashed into the building.

“I reached about halfway through the bar when I heard something really loud crash in behind me, it scared me pretty bad, but I was OK,” Wills said. “I saw the last part of it (the car) driving through and then I saw him or her drive away.”

Wills said she was a good distance away, but there was some debris that made its way to her.

The surveillance video shows Wills walking up to the hole in the wall looking at the mess in disbelief.

“I was shocked, I couldn’t really process it, by the time I could process it, they were driving away,” Wills said. “I walked forward to try to get the license plate, but it was blocked from my view so I couldn’t.”

'It's sad'

Both she and Delapp are not only upset with the driver for leaving, but they said they’re baffled drivers didn’t’ stop to see if anyone was inside.

“It’s crazy, there’s a lot of people that saw this happen and no one thought to get out and check,” Wills said. “I don’t know, people are more concerned about themselves than the safety of others, it’s really sad, honestly.”

The damage inside Sam's Bar after a car crashed into the building.

“It still makes me mad, because if my bartender would have been in here and she was hurt, she wouldn’t have been able to call for herself, she would have just been laying here,” Delapp said. “I’m aggravated that the people don’t care enough about other people that nobody checked on her.”

Damage is done

The owner took to Facebook to post the pictures of the damage and car in hopes that someone recognizes the car.

She said the person needs to pay for the repairs, which will cost at least $5,000.

“Yeah it hurts a lot, especially for a small business, it hurts a lot,” Delapp said about the unexpected bills.

“I hope they find the person, I really do, what they did was wrong,” Wills said. “They should have stayed, but they didn’t, and then they drove off and left the debris in the middle of the road. It’s not good at all.”

If you know any information, contact Pasadena police at 713-477-1221.