BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Police had a mystery on their hands Wednesday as they investigated a bizarre crash that happened around 3 a.m. on Doat Street in the city's Schiller Park neighborhood.
The occupant, or occupants of of a late model Chevrolet Malibu bearing plates from Forsyth County, Georgia, apparently fled the scene, even though there were signs they may have been injured.
Never seen anything like it
"I've never seen anything like this before," Louella Davis said as she stood on the porch of the home she rents, regarding the car that became lodged between her house and the the one next door with such force that it took a tow truck driver using a winch to remove it.
Davis recalls being awakened from her sleep at about 3 a.m. by a large noise.
"All the sudden I just heard big loud boom. I jumped up, I looked out the window, and I didn't see anything. Then when I got up this morning, I came out on the porch and I looked in my driveway and I just saw the car," Davis said.
Louella she immediately called her landlord, Patricia Kaczmarek, who arrived from her residence a few doors away.
"I came over here and ... oh boy," Kaczmarek said as she prepared to deal with her insurance adjuster after the house she's owned for 40 years may have sustained minor structural damage, along with obvious cosmetic damage from the impact of the car.
"What a mess," Kaczmarek said.
The $64,000 question is ...
Kaczmarek and Davis believe the car must have been traveling at high rate of speed down Sumner Place, which intersects Doat Street directly across from the driveway where it ended up.
It was wedged between the two homes so tightly that it appeared there would have been no way for the doors to be opened.
When asked how they thought the occupants got out, Davis said, "You know what? I was wondering myself!"
They speculated that whoever was in the car may have eventually freed themselves by crawling out the trunk, after noting that the back seats had been pulled down and the trunk opened. They also observed some blood on the steering wheel and windshield, but nary a soul about when the car was discovered.
Please, do something
Both said speeding has been a problem in the neighborhood, despite there being a school located just a few blocks away.
"Every day they shoot up down the street at 80 and 90 mph," Davis said. "We've complained about it for a long time."
According to the city's Slow Streets program Sumner Park, down which they believe the car had traveled at a high rate of speed, has been approved for the installation of speed humps. Doat Street's application for the traffic calming devises is still under review and may not gain approval for another year or so.
Davis hopes that speed humps become a reality sooner than later.
"We've seen a lot of accidents on this street," she said.
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