By Mary O’KEEFE

The New Year had a rocky start for Roger and Tracy Frey when they faced the first day of 2017 with a head on collision at 7:10 p.m. in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard.

The Freys are well known in the community as the owners of Franks Famous Kitchen and for their generous spirit to many non-profit organizations throughout Crescenta Valley.

“Tracy and I were facing eastbound on Foothill [Boulevard]. We were stopped in the left turning lane to turn onto Raymond [Avenue],” Roger said.

Tracy was driving; she had the green signal light but was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass.

“We saw headlights coming at us,” Roger said.

Tracy began honking the vehicle’s horn; however, the oncoming vehicle, driven by a 30-year-old man, slammed into them.

“[The other driver] continued accelerating after he hit us,” Roger said.

According to Roger, the man did not brake and pushed the Freys’ vehicle west and across two eastbound lanes of Foothill Boulevard where they hit a parked car near Domino’s Pizza.

Roger was able to get out of the vehicle, but Tracy could not. According to Roger when he exited his vehicle he was very upset.

“The [other driver] said, ‘Calm down. What’s the big deal?’ as he got out of his car,” Roger recalled.

The man asked if everyone was okay Roger replied no. That’s when the man, according to Roger, started running westbound on Foothill. Because of his injuries Roger could not give chase.

“I started screaming for someone to stop him. A couple of guys from Domino’s chased him,” he said.

They apparently caught up with him a few blocks away. At that point the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. deputies and California Highway Patrol officers arrived.

Tracy was transported to the hospital and later released. She has an “extremely bruised sternum” and both Freys have powder burns on their hands and arms from the deployment of the air bags.

Despite their injuries business goes on. They had a catering job on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena on Jan. 2. Tracy had to stay home, but Roger went to work with support from family and the catering job was completed.

The 30-year-old man was arrested for felony drivers under influence, according to CHP. The collision is still under investi-gation.

  Mary Okeefe