The Ataris Tour Van Destroyed by High Speed Chase

Last night I was an innocent victim of a high speed chase.

Some lunatic flew around the corner in Hollywood.
He was being chased by multiple police cars. Traveling at high pursuit
driving recklessly in a supposedly stolen car.
He sped into my lane of oncoming traffic and slammed straight in into me head on at full speed.

He was traveling so fast that he sent our
massive Ford E-350 Van from
the outer left lane into the parking lane. 
He was traveling with such force that the center engine console detached and shot forward into the van ramming into my leg making my leg
black and blue. 

I feel lucky to be alive.

Gracie my dog went flying out of her seat and I had to dig through the
scattered mess to find her.

The van was smoking and we couldn’t breathe.
I thought the van was on fire and going to burst into flames at any
second.
I couldn’t open my door so I crawled into the back seat with my dog in my arms.
The side door would not open as it was pinned against a parked car we had been slammed into.
I climbed through the smoke and back into the front seat and quickly
lowered my dog out of the passenger window and onto the hood of the car next to us.
I hurried and crawled out the window behind her the best I could.

It’s at this point I immediately hear the sound of multiple police officers shouting forcibly at the driver of the other car.
MULTIPLE GUNS DRAWN!

The entire street now blocked off with police.
It is in this moment I realize what’s actually going on here.
THIS IS AN ACTIVE CRIME SCENE?!

They start shouting, “GET BACK! GET BACK!!” I am so confused,
disoriented, dazed.
Just clutching my dog in my arms.
Asking her if she is OK, hoping and praying that she has not had
anything broken in the wreck.

Luckily she and myself came out of this alive but our band's tour van is unfortunately totaled thanks to this stupid person.
Luckily most of our gear is thankfully OK as it was way in the back 
however our van is our only means to make a living and play shows.

Anyone who knows me will attest that I am the last person to ever ask
anyone for anything.
I would always rather be the one helping others. 
I never in a million years planned on doing one of these GoFundMe
pages but after waking up today with all of the realities of last night
now sinking in I am humbly asking for your help so we that we may
repurchase the same used Ford E-350 van and get back on the road.

Thank you all so much for your generosity, for the kind words,
countless messages and well wishes.
It has definitely offered a huge ray of hope today in the aftermath of       this unfortunate situation. 

Merry Christmas and much love to all of you. 

-Kristopher Roe / The Ataris  

Here’s some video and more about the crash from NBC4 L.A. news:

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Hollywood-Police-chase-Ends-in-Violent-Crash-503001711.html 

GoFundMe asked us to include some more details in the campaign so here you go:

Our drummer Dustin Phillips is helping run this campaign along with myself Kristopher Roe of      the band The Ataris. 

If we meet our goal Dustin Phillips will be collecting the funds and he and myself Kristopher Roe of The Ataris will use the money towards purchasing a used mid to late 2000's Ford E-350 Van. 

Our van that was destroyed in the accident was a 2003 Ford E-350 van. 
When we purchased it a little over a year ago it cost us $7500 used. 
We have checked on many used vehicle sites and we have found several vehicles that we will 
be able to purchase for this amount. 

Thank you again for your support and for sharing our campaign. It really means a lot. 

Much love - The Ataris (Kristopher Roe and Dustin Phillips)