SPOKANE, Wash. — The damage is still visible, including pieces of a black car, outside China's Best Buffet on East Lincoln.
Spokane Police say Lonnie Boykin rammed into the restaurant Tuesday night before running over a woman.
"Yeah he lost his freaking mind," said Dawn Kortness, who is home in Chewelah recovering.
She says she and 20 members of her family were ending a celebratory night outside the North Spokane buffet.
"It was my mom's 81st birthday dinner," she said.
A group photo, with Dawn smiling in front, was taken moments before a black Nissan came flying through the parking lot, according to Kortness.
In court Wednesday, Boykin faced charges of assault and felony hit-and-run. A prosecutor said the state was deeply concerned about public safety given the way it was described Boykin squealed his tires and drove erratically in the lot with children present.
Dawn's cousin David came back to the restaurant Wednesday to survey the damage, saying he and others in the group were dodging out of Boykin's way.
"Kept backing up trying to hit one of us, that's when he smashed into the restaurant trying to get my friend," he described.
After running into the building, in court records Spokane Police say Boykin swerved toward Dawn.
"That's when he barreled into me, he literally aimed for me," she said.
She's now waiting to hear if she needs surgery for a broken knee; she's thankful it's mostly scrapes and bruises.
"I don't really remember much except trying to jump and then getting off the ground with a broken [knee] and cops and ambulance showing up," she said.
The Kortness family is baffled as to why this happened — Boykin is a total stranger.
"Mr. Boykin you've only been in Spokane 3 1/2 weeks. It says you're previously from California and Wyoming," said Spokane Court Judge Annette Plese.
She implemented a $10,000 bond.
The Kortness family says Boykin yelled at them to "call the cops" after he swerved through the parking lot, making loops around according to Dawn's wife, Christine. They say they told him to slow down because they had children and elderly relatives outside.
Dawn believes she took the hit for a reason; if Boykin had swerved toward the grass outside the restaurant, her mother wouldn't have been able to get out of the way.
"I feel like if she wouldn't have gotten hit he would've kept going and he literally could've killed all of us," Christine said.
"When you're aiming the car at somebody and putting it to the floor, you're trying to kill them if you ask me. When you try to smash somebody between a building and a car you're trying to kill them. When you run into a group full of people, you're at least trying to hurt somebody," David said. "Could've got ugly. Uglier than it did."