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Former Rosati’s Pizza owner critically injured by wrong-way driver

From the It’s-Hard-to-Believe Department: Brickyard Downtown beverage director Bobby Kramer wasn’t the only Valley food and drink industry member to be a victim of a wrong-way driver last Wednesday.

On the same day Kramer was killed, Scott Selke, longtime co-owner of several Rosati’s Pizza restaurants, was struck by an impaired driver going the wrong direction at 70 miles per hour.

Selke survived, but suffered extensive injuries. He has undergone four surgeries in the past week and remains in critical condition at Chandler Regional Hospital. It’s estimated he will need another 20-30 surgeries.

Selke moved to the Valley in 1986 and, along with brothers Rick and Mike Rosati, opened the first Rosati’s Pizza at McClintock and Warner in south Tempe.

The trio later added other Valley locations, including McQueen and Ray in Chandler, but ended up closing all of them in 2019.

Other Rosati family members, who own or have franchised the majority of the chain’s restaurants, reopened the south Tempe location last summer and plan to reopen the Chandler location next month.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched this week for Selke and his wife, Julia. You can donate here.

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