Teen driver crashes into diners outside Sarasota restaurant

SARASOTA, Fla. - A 16-year-old driver crashed their Honda Civic into Kacey’s Seafood in Sarasota Friday, seriously injuring two guests, according to Florida Highway Patrol.

It happened around 3:30 Friday afternoon at the restaurant on Fruitville Road. The business owners said the impact sounded like an explosion 

"We had people sitting over here and a car came around a corner pretty fast, and hit them and went through our building," said Kay Kwenski, one of the owners of Kacey’s Seafood. 

She says one of the seriously injured guests were thrown about ten feet from where they were sitting.

"Two lives hang in the balance and we’re pretty, we’re incredibly grateful that, as much as we urge everyone to pray for those two guests, this could’ve been a lot worse 30 minutes earlier," said Michael Garey, the restaurant’s other owner.

Owners say the dining room and patio were full of guests earlier in the afternoon closer to lunchtime.  

Now, they’re focused on getting everything back up and running because being closed over the weekend is a big financial strain for this local business of about ten years.

"We’re going to get this place cleaned up, structurally the building is sound, is my understanding, and we’ll get it re-opened and operational," said Kwenski.