OPA-LOCKA, FLA. (WSVN) - A man was killed and two women were rushed to the hospital after their car crashed in an Opa-locka neighborhood, then burst into flames.
According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the fiery wreck took place on along the Northwest 135th Street, near 27th Avenue, just before 7:15 a.m. on Sunday.
Cellphone video captured the vehicle involved fully engulfed in flames.
Area resident Carlos Tapanes said the crash took place right in front of his house.
“We’re talking about fire, I would say maybe about, you know, 10 feet high, right in front of my house on Sunday,” he said. “That gentleman hit that car going 120, maybe more, and he flew in the air! And his whole undercarriage hit the floor, and once it hit the floor, he was out of control, he couldn’t handle it.”
The cellphone video captured Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units at the scene and the victims on the ground, in need of medical care, as well as debris scattered on the ground.
“The fire just quickly grew, just maybe two minutes later, the entire car, it is a Corvette, orange; you can’t really tell that now. It just looks like – you can’t see much of the car right now,” said area resident Vivian Medina.
Medina and area resident James Moyer said they heard the moment of impact.
“I got woken up to, like basically, just this really loud sound,” said Medina. “The fire just quickly grew, just maybe two minutes later,
“It almost sounded like a grenade or something,” said Moyer.
“I saw this, the whole street was filled with smoke,” said Medina.
MDSO investigators said that the Corvette was traveling at a high rate of speed when it hit several parked cars.
“They literally just zigzagged – they missed the tree in front of my house, then hit the cars of my neighbor’s house,” said Medina.
“I go outside, what do I see? All my cars dismantled,” said Tapanes.
Detectives said the driver was ejected from the Corvette. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
One of the passengers was also thrown from the car, while the other was trapped inside.
“This is a hard experience,” said Moyer. “I pray for whoever died in the incident.”
With tears in his eyes, Moyer said he and his wife rushed to help get the trapped passenger out of the car.
“We grabbed her, we tried to pull her out a little bit, and it wasn’t far enough, ’cause when the car started to, like, come up with flames, it started like spreading out throughout the whole car,” he said. “When we pulled her away, everything was just broken; her arms were broken, her legs were broken.”
The surviving victims were airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center, where they remain in critical but stable condition.
7News cameras captured loved ones of those involved outside the hospital, emotional and distraught.
People who live on the street where the crash took place said they’ve seen too many wrecks.
7News cameras captured the aftermath of another violent wreck on the same street in 2024.
“They airlifted another gentleman from there. You know, that’s the one closest [to] here,” said Tapanes. “Before that one, right there, you can see on that faded fence, a car went in there. There’s another car that went into that building, there’s another car that went into the first house. There’s been three cars that went right in here; that’s why they put this gate.”
Area residents said they want something done before any more lives are lost.
“I just off the phone with the commissioner right now, letting them know what happened, what actions are they planning on doing,” said Tapanes.
“We need to change the rules around here, ’cause this road is dangerous,” said Moyer.
Loved ones identified the driver who was killed as Steven Lenard Hadley, adding he would have turned 36 on Monday and he was out celebrating his birthday early at the time of the crash.
Back in June 2023, a crash happened next door to where the car caught fire on Sunday.
While a 7News crews was at the scene of the wreck on Monday morning, yet another violent crash took place.
7News has reached out to Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien regarding possible plans for this road as well as neighbors concerns.
The MDSO Traffic Homicide Unit is currently investigating the circumstances that led to the crash.
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