PARMA, Ohio — It was a police chase that started in Independence and ended in Parma.
The driver behind the wheel was 28-year-old Delvonta Mallory, according to authorities. The pursuit came to an abrupt halt when he crashed his vehicle into the side of Koorey's Jewelry on Snow Road.
As bad as the outside of the historic building looked following the wreck, the inside is hanging by a thread. Owner Darrell Koorey got the call Saturday night that the alarms in the building were going off and there had been an accident.
"My wife started crying," he said.
Tears for a lifetime of hard work, gone in 30 seconds. Koorey says he has no idea how long it will take to rebuild.
"It might a month or two or three or six — who knows?" he told 3News. "Because it's an old building. It was built in 1901, or something."
Koorey's family has owned the business for nearly 50 years. His prized jewelry case is now rubble, the structure is compromised, and to make matters worse, his grandson and his family lived upstairs. While they are unhurt, the building is so unsafe the family has to move, the crash so hard it felt like and earthquake.
As Mallory's vehicle was coming down Snow, it took out a tree before jumping a curb and ending up backwards into the jewelry store. The impact of the car against a brick wall ejected the car's battery.
As for Mallory, Koorey says he was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center with a broken back, and police stated they began the chase because they suspected Mallory was driving a stolen car.
Koorey tells us he has managed to stay in business because he is honest, fair, and faithful. Now, he hopes that will carry him through.
"So we look at it and say, 'God is going to do something good through all of this,'" he said. "And we're praying for [Mallory]. His back is broken, you know? That he would find Jesus."