Community Corner
Lake In the Hills Man Faces Long Road After Being Hit By Car In Crash
Mike Zaitz, 46, was one of four people injured when a car crashed through the window of Buffalo Wings and Rings In Crystal Lake last week.
CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — A Lake In The Hills man is awaiting surgery after he was hit and pinned by a car that crashed through a Crystal Lake restaurant last week when he said everything went from normal to chaotic in a matter of seconds.
Mike Zaitz was one of four people who were injured when a car crashed through the window of Buffalo Wings and Rings in Crystal Lake at around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. According to a GoFundMe effort that was started last week to help the local family, Zaitz pushed his wife out of the way after a Nissan Altima slammed through the window of the restaurant.
Police said last week that the car was attempting to park when, for some unknown reason, it drove over the sidewalk and into the restaurant.
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Zaitz told ABC 7 that he acted out of reflex when he pushed his wife, Danae, out of the way before getting hit by the car. Three other people were struck by the car in the crash, he said. The 46-year-old father of two and drummer in the band “Modern Day Romeos” was pinned by the car, according to reports.
“All I heard was other people screaming and I knew there was a car on top of me,” Zaitz told ABC 7. “I was just screaming to get (the car) off because I knew there was something wrong with my legs.
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“He added: “Everything went from normal to chaotic in about two-point-three seconds.”
According to the GoFundMe, which has raised more than $31,000 as of Monday, Zaitz suffered a broken tibia, required stitches in his hand, and has shards of glass in his left leg. Zaitz will have to wait for the swelling to subside before he can undergo surgery, according to the fundraising website.
The union electrician will be unable to put any weight on his right leg for three months, according to the GoFundMe.
Three other people were also hospitalized following the crash, but reports indicated Zaitz was the most severely injured.
Danae Zaitz said she felt her husband of 22 years shove her and then he wasn’t there, WGN reported.
“My brain started to go, ‘OMG where’s Mike, where’s Mike?’,” Danae Zaitz told the television station. “And all of a sudden, I hear him scream, ‘Get it off me, get it off me.’”
She added: “I almost lost my best friend (Thursday) night and I didn’t praise God.”
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