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Issaquah man's sight damaged after SUV hit building

SEATTLE — An Issaquah woman said her husband may have been blinded when he tried to rescue their 7-year-old daughter from a burning building after it was hit by an out-of-control SUV.

Kasandra Moore, 34, said they were eating lunch at the Grecian Delight at Rainier Avenue South and South Ferdinand Street Thursday afternoon.

She remembers hearing an explosion then blacking out.  When she came to, the room was filled with fire.

She made it out of the building then realized she didn't know where her daughter was and tried to run back in.

"They told me I couldn't go back in and I'm screaming, 'My daughter's in there, my daughter's in  there!  Help, somebody please help my little girl,' " said Moore.  "I thought where the car was, was on top of where the table and chairs we sat on. And I thought she was under the car. My husband thought she was under the car."

So 59-year-old Phillip Moore went back in, too, and tried to lift the burning vehicle.

"He was over there under the car with it on fire and the flames," she said. "The chemicals and the flames, I guess, from the grease of the restaurant and the car's gas and stuff coming out and anti-freeze," said Kasandra Moore.

The toxic mix burned his eyes.

"He can't see right now," Kasandra Moore said.  "The doctors don't know if he will ever see again, to be honest."

The Moores were the only customers in the restaurant when the SUV struck the building.

Seattle police said the SUV that crashed revved up before it struck the building.  It crashed first through a hair salon, heavily damaging it, and then into the restaurant.

Kasandra Moore said the SUV struck her daughter and pushed her to a counter where there was an opening. The girl managed to crawl into the kitchen to safetyand only had bumps and bruises.

Phillip Moore wasn't as lucky.

Doctors likely won't know whether he can see until the bandages are removed.

His wife says he wasn't thinking of himself when he sprang into action.

"He didn't care if he died at that point," she said. "He just wanted to get our little girl."

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