HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A dangerous drive was caught on camera, and police said the man behind the wheel knew he should not have been behind the wheel before he made a run for it. The suspect did not have a valid driver license and has been accused of doing the same thing years ago.
The suspect, 36-year-old Ryan Whittaker, faced a judge. Tuesday.
He faces several charges for a crash that was caught on home surveillance footage.
“Mr. Whittaker, good afternoon, sir,” a judge said.
At his court hearing, Whittaker was in a wheelchair, apparently hurt after the wreck in Hollywood.
“I was inside of my home, and then all of a sudden, I hear a huge crash, and I looked out the window. Things were flying everywhere. A tire came through my fence,” said Ashley Romano, who heard the crash.
According to police, Whittaker blew through a stop sign and crashed into a Dodge Challenger that was being driven by Crystal Porter’s fiance.
Her fiance had just dropped of his daughter.
“So my daughter was in the vehicle about a minute before the accident happened,” said Porter.
Minutes after the crash, Hollywood Police officers were seen rushing to the scene, where they said Whittaker was trying to get away by attempting to go into someone’s home.
He was then arrested.
Whittaker has a lengthy criminal history, which dates back to the early 2000s.
At the time of the crash, he was wearing an ankle monitor because he was on pretrial release.
“He was charged with four counts of leaving the scene of the crash,” said a prosecutor.
Luckily, Porter’s fiance only suffered minor injuries.
“I’d like people to slow down. I’d like people to slow down and pay attention when they’re driving,” said Porter.
Whittaker is being held at the Broward County jail on a $74,000 bond.
He has yet to go to trial for his previous hit-and-run.
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