SEATTLE — On Thursday afternoon, King County Metro safely removed one of its buses from a Seattle building. For more than a week, the bus was lodged in the side of an indoor skate park near South Jackson Street and 16th Avenue South.
The bus had 25 riders on board when Metro said it was hit by a car, causing the crash into the building. The nonprofit Skate Like a Girl was using the space when the crash happened.
"It is nothing short of a miracle that you know the thirty plus young people that were inside -- nobody was physically injured,” said Kristin Ebeling, the executive director of Skate Like a Girl.
"Right where that bus landed is where our most popular feature normally is, that space is always busy,” said Finn Bradberry the director of the Seattle chapter of Skate Like a Girl. “There is always kids skating it, and earlier that day Spirit is like I want to rearrange the park."
Spirit Miska, a new employee, decided to move a speaker along the wall just two hours before the bus smashed into the building.
"If I didn't put the speaker there, I feel like people would have been hanging out in that area,” said Miska.
"I don't even know what to say about that besides I am so grateful,” said Bradberry. "Lucky in a lot of ways. Unlucky in a lot of ways."
There were no serious injuries, and there is also no chance of the nonprofit using the building again.
"Not having this space right now has meant that we are not able to be running our programs or our programs have just been on pause,” said Bradberry.
On average, the location served 500 skaters a week, according to Ebeling.
"I was crushed. I can't believe all that work was just you know gone in like a split second,” said Ebeling. "We were hopeful we were going to land on our feet but now it is pretty uncertain."
The gaping hole is creating new obstacles for a nonprofit. Skate Like a Girl had planned on being in the building through the end of April. They had youth skateboarding programs scheduled. Now they are asking for the community’s help as they look for a new location.