MIAMI (WSVN) - A large police presence was seen in Miami after a crash ended in Miami with a vehicle slamming into a building.
“The van headed — you know, it’s head-on shot, and then ricocheted into the building,” said the owner of HCE, Dr. Youssef Hachem.
The two-car crash happened on Northwest 27th Avenue, outside of a structural engineering firm, Thursday morning.
The incident in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami is now a police matter involving Miami-Dade as well as City of Miami police departments.
“Everybody here, all the customers, everybody rushed over there,” said a witness. “It was super loud.”
According to police, their Crime Prevention Unit was looking for criminal activity between the area of 42nd to 40th avenues, around Flagler.
Units then saw a white van that caught their attention because a records check showed that the van was reported stolen.
Police then followed the van and turned on their emergency lights to stop the vehicle, but the driver kept going.
The female driver of the van then attempted to make a turn at a high speed against traffic when she hit a white sedan on Northwest 27th Avenue and Third Street.
The driver of the sedan was an Uber with a female passenger in the back.
Surveillance video showed how fast the van was going.
“My assistant was here and she was quiet shook up,” said Hachem. “She saw the van coming and she froze.”
His passenger got herself out of the vehicle but then fell to the ground, clearly in bad condition.
“She had blood all over her face,” said the witness.
Hachem rushed outside with a fire extinguisher to help.
“They were out of the car but the car was on fire,” he said.
The driver of the van crashed into the side of a building, shattering windows, and needed to be extricated from the vehicle, which took 10 minutes.
“We also called our technical rescue team to come an assist because of the entrapment. The van was crashed into the building, and the patient was heavily injured, between the dash and the wall of building,” said City of Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Pete Sanchez.
She was taken to the Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition by Miami Fire Rescue.
Police believe she was using the van to commit burglaries in the area.
“Perhaps, It could have been the fact that why this individual decided to flee,” said Alvaro Zabaleta, MDPD. “Not only because of the fact that they were in a stolen vehicle, but at the same time, perhaps they were involved in other criminal activities.”
The aftermath of the crash left debris and shattered glass along the side of Hachem’s business.
“Impact windows are not designed to stop cars, but we got lucky,” said Hachem.
As busy as Northwest 27th Street was Thursday morning, officers are thankful that more people were not hurt.
“Who’s to say that there couldn’t be a pedestrian on that sidewalk? It could have gone through the business,” said Zabaleta.
According to MDPD, they learned that MPD were looking for a vehicle that matched the description of the van. The female driver was also revealed to be involved in multiple burglaries.
Drug paraphernalia was found around the van.
The male driver of the Uber was in stable condition while the female passenger was transported in serious condition with multiple fractures.
It is unknown what the driver of the van will be charged with.
The conditions of the three injured also remains unknown.
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