MIAMI (WSVN) - A violent Thanksgiving Day wreck in Northwest Miami-Dade that witnesses said was the result of street racing left three people injured and caused a holiday operation to help the homeless to end up in the path of danger.
7News cameras on Thursday captured a mangled mess in the area of Northwest 27th Avenue and 53rd Street in the Brownsville neighborhood.
The mass of crushed metal and glass is what’s left of a blue Dodge Charger.
The crash happened just before 4 p.m.
“He comes down. He couldn’t control it,” said witness Jerry Lewis.
But Lewis said the driver of the Charger was racing another car moments before impact.
“He came across 27th Avenue. He was in the air,” he said.
A witness who identified herself as Angel said she also saw the Charger prior to the crash.
“I was just on the balcony talking on the phone, and then I just seen a car, and the car, it just started sliding across,” she said.
The Charger ran up on a median, crashed through some bushes and hit a column underneath the Metrorail. The vehicle then crossed over northbound lanes of traffic and landed in the parking lot of a convenience store.
Lewis said he often cooks for the homeless in the parking lot where the Charger came to rest.
“Yeah, I barbecued for the homeless people today,” he said.
Lewis said he and his crew were watching football when the car came barreling right toward them.
“Oh, man, it was like a movie, like everything was flying toward us: the debris, the motor parts and everything,” he said.
Debris hit two people in the parking lot.
Lewis said his Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which was parked in the lot, was also hit, but the vehicle may have ultimately saved lives.
“See, he hit my car. That stopped them from running everybody over,” he said.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene and extricated the driver of the Charger.
Paramedics transported the motorist to Ryder Trauma Center by ambulance. As of late Thursday night, his condition is unknown.
The victims who were injured in the parking lot were taken to the emergency room at Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment. They are expected to be OK.
As the Charger was towed away, Lewis said he’s just thankful he, his friends and the homeless people he was serving were all OK.
“Yeah, man, they could have killed somebody,” he said.
The whereabouts of the second vehicle that was apparently involved in the drag race are unknown.
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