SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A witness helped police officers track down a driver who took off after the vehicle he was driving struck a Southwest Miami-Dade home with two people inside.
Jose Barela had just arrived home from work when a white Honda crashed into the front of his home, at the intersection of Southwest 40th Terrace and 103rd Court, at around 7:30 p.m., Wednesday.
“I didn’t know what to think. For a minute, I didn’t know what to think,” Barela said. “Imagine you’re in your bedroom, you hear this loud noise, and you see this car, and it’s like, ‘Is this for real?'”
Barela said his elderly mother was inside at the time of the crash, but, thankfully, she was not hurt.
Right after the Honda struck the house, Barela and other witnesses said the driver, who was wearing a red shirt, took off.
Marcel Hannon watched the crash and followed the runaway driver on his bicycle.
“I see him running to his house with his mom smacking his ass,” Hannon said.
Eventually, Hannon said the driver returned to the crash scene, and Miami-Dade Police held him until he was returned to his family.
When asked if he would like to comment on the crash, the driver said, “[Expletive] you.”
Neighbors said the stretch of road near Barela’s house is dangerous, especially at night.
“This street right here? They fly down this street,” a neighbor said. “I live on the corner down here, and they come around that corner like they’re doing 60 mph.”
Barela’s neighbors helped him pick up debris from the crash, so he can get back to normal living.
“I don’t know how this is going to work out,” Barela said. “I have some neighbors who told me they want to help me out to clean everything and take it from there.”
A piece of plywood now covers the hole in the house’s front wall that was caused by the collision.
No injuries were reported.
The charges related to the incident are not yet known.
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