Diane's Dance Center Reopens after Car Crashes into It Sat.

Update, 9:45 p.m., April 15: "By 2 p.m. today (Monday) the landlord had removed the glass and broken bricks. By 3 p.m. Miss Diane and Miss Donna had finished cleaning the floor. By 4 p.m. we had our first class for the afternoon," according to the dance school via e-mail.

Reports of a car crashing into long-time Lindenhurst staple Diane's Dance Center on Saturday night turned out to be true - but there were no associated injuries, and it was able to reopen the next day and to resume a regular schedule of classes on Monday, as well.

That's according to John Reynolds, husband of owner Diane, who spoke with Lindenhurst Patch.

"It was a car coming in to use the laundromat [next door]. The driver accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake, and crashed into the front window," said Reynolds, who's also the grand knight of the Lindenhurst Knights of Columbus.

According to Suffolk Police, the call came in at 7:30 p.m. on April 13, and there were no injuries.

Reynolds confirmed, 'Thankfully, we were already closed, and no one was injured."

The Center's students were competing at West Islip High School this past weekend at the Power of Dance Competition. The school had 58 students in the competition - which tours and stops at different places - performing in 40 different numbers out of 700 numbers performed by numerous other dance schools and their students.

Each school picks a charity prior to competing, and all of the prize money won goes toward it. Diane's Dance Center was doing well at the competition and raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Reynolds said.

The competition and the resulting reduced class schedule made it easier to reopen at 3 p.m. on Sunday, he said, adding the regular schedule of classes would resume on Monday.

The car went through the left section of the business that houses the changing/sitting area, and from the outside one could see the damage was sealed up.

"There was some damage inside, and we were able to seal up the front door and window that night," he said. "And we have the dance rooms in the back, so we're okay."

A quick look inside the dance school on Sunday afternoon revealed the glass panes and aluminum frame were knocked down on the floor, and the brick base that was attached to the frame, and not to any concrete footing, collapsed inside on the floor.

"We were able to clean everything up, and get someone to seal up the front," Reynolds said, noting the business has had other cars hit it in the past, but they had more damage than the building.

"They've hit the concrete columns, and they've chipped that, but the cars usually had the damage, not us. This time it looks like the brick base was only attached to the aluminum frame of the window - there was nothing to anchor it - so it went over, and the car that hit it was in good shape," he added.

Police said the Town of Babylon was on scene to inspect the building on Saturday night.

"We had the Town of Babylon fire marshal here to look at the building, and the Village of Lindenhurst fire marshal was coming on Monday to look at it, too," Reynolds said.

He said he found out about the incident from a Village Highway Department foreman who'd passed by, and went and knocked on Reynolds' front door.

"He said I should get down here right away," said Reynolds, who arrived minutes after Suffolk Police were on scene.

The hardest part, he said, was getting a company that was open on Saturday night to come down to seal up the damage after talking with the insurance company. Reynolds said they ended up looking online and finding a company.

"It only took them about 45 minutes to close everything up, but I was here till 11:30 p.m. till everything was done," Reynolds said.

On Monday Diane's Dance Center was up and running on a normal schedule, with a message posted on its website telling people as such: "We are open on regular schedule, Monday, April 15, 2013."

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