OAKLAND PARK, FLA. (WSVN) - The driver of a car that crashed into an unoccupied house in Oakland Park Monday is speaking out about the events that led to the crash.
According to neighbors, the driver was in her GMC Yukon when someone reached inside and grabbed her purse, prompting her to chase the black car they fled in down Northwest 43rd Street.
When the black car turned a corner, she crashed into the house.
The car almost hit another driver.
“That little brake I did saved my life,” witness Dulce Avila said.
After the crash, surveillance footage from a Ring camera showed the woman who crashed running from the scene screaming to call for help.
“Call the cops!” she yelled.
Oakland Park Police and Fire Rescue responded to the scene shortly after, and the woman claimed she was chasing an Infiniti.
It was believed that someone in the Infiniti possibly stole her wallet.
The woman was then taken to the hospital.
“And you see this car going ‘Mrrrrrree!’ and all of a sudden you see her going, ‘Get the guy in the black car!'” said Shawn Waldo, who spoke with the driver. “She said she has to use our phone, and she said someone stole her purse. That’s why the phone wasn’t there, and she was chasing this guy in a black vehicle, she said, at high speed.”
According to Waldo, the woman claimed that someone stole her purse and then took off in a black Infiniti, so she chased the vehicle. Neighbors said she ultimately hit a stop sign, then crashed into the home.
“I said, ‘How could you clock out a street sign and end up up in somebody’s living room?’ and she said, ‘I don’t know, I think my airbags may have bloated, and I just didn’t see where I was going,’ and boom, whack, zoom it happened,” Waldo said the woman claimed.
The homeowner boarded up their home and said they are happy their dogs or anyone else wasn’t hurt.
No injuries have been reported.
“It’s very scary because thinking I could have been home, my children could have been home,” said a neighbor. “You have people walking down the street all the time walking their dogs. We have children that play and ride their bikes in the street.”
“She did say her car was being worked on. She got a brand new car, and this one’s a loaner,” Waldo said, “so the poor thing ran into someone’s living room with a loaner car, and I hope they get that guy.”
According to neighbors, the woman appeared to be fine before she was taken to the hospital.
She said saw the Infiniti flee all the way down to Prospect Road, which is two blocks away from the scene of the crash, before she lost sight of the car.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the crash.
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