HALLANDALE BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A pair of teenagers have been arrested after allegedly traveling in a stolen SUV that crashed into a Hallandale Beach gas station.
Surveillance video captured a white Mercedes-Benz SUV slamming into two pumps at a Shell gas station along the 800 block of Hallandale Beach Boulevard Tuesday morning.
Hallandale Beach Police said the juveniles were running from officers who witnessed the crash and later arrested them. The driver was 14 years old and the passenger was 16 years old, police said.
Mirela Ercan and her son Ismial own and run the gas station where the SUV crashed. The crash caused over $10,000 in damage to the station.
“That was chaos at that moment,” Mirela said. “I went to run to see the cameras, and I saw that pump three and four on the floor. The station didn’t blow up, thank God.”
Video captured Josolvar Icer, a gas station employee, running outside shortly after the crash to push the station’s emergency shut off button.
Once the station was shut down, he poured sand where fuel had spilled.
“I came outside, and I just pushed the emergency button,” Icer said.
“Without that, I really think everything could have spiraled out very quickly,” Ismial said. “If there was any sort of spark from the car, this could have basically turned into a flame ball.”
One of the teenagers was taken to a local hospital, and both are expected to be processed at a Juvenile Assessment Center.
The vehicle, which was reported stolen out of Miami-Dade County, has since been towed from the scene.
The driver of the vehicle has been charged with grand theft auto, resisting arrest, fleeing and eluding, operating a motor vehicle without a license and failing to remain on the scene of a crash.
The passenger has been released to the custody of his parents.
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