‘Everything was scattered’: Community helps after driver trashes Bellingham bakery

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Surveillance video captures the aftermath of a violent crash into a Bellingham bakery. A car driven by a minor drove through the Slice of Heaven Bakery and Café's patio fence and wall.

It took Slice of Heaven’s owner Colby Abshire three days to open back up after the crash which happened just after midnight on Monday.

The city even had to come out to make sure the building was structurally safe.

“Shock that we were going to be shut down if the building’s going to be beyond repair,” said Colby. “Worse case we won’t even be able to reopen.”

Colby says that was his second thought after seeing the damage. His first thought was if the driver was ok.

“Our own camera looks right down and there was a car, I could see it from the windshield back sitting in our patio and there was a big piece of wood through the windshield,” said Colby.

“The driver as far as we know is ok, which is first and foremost most important,” he continued.

That driver is also a minor. Colby said after learning the driver wasn’t hurt, he started taking inventory of the extensive damage.

“Everything was scattered everywhere but where it was supposed to be,” Colby said. “Cinder blocks, benches, tables, chairs everything was pretty much as far as it could go against that wall and the cases.”

The display cases are barely three months old. The car’s impact pushed one of those cases back by about three inches. The case’s seal is also broken, meaning they’ll have to replace that new display case. Colby says all the damages added up to around $100K. He also says the community has risen to the occasion to help. Some even crossed the border to lend some support.

“We came from Langley, BC so we’ve crossed the border,” said Nadine McSpadden. “It took us about an hour to get down here.”

“We just really wanted to support them,” she added. “We’re sad that this happened and it’s a new business trying to start off and they’re working hard.”

KIRO 7 did reach out to Bellingham Police for more information on what led up to the crash but never heard back.

There is a GoFundMe set up to help with the damages, replace the food they had to throw out, and support employees’ costs while they were closed.

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