Chicago police were searching for a hit-and-run driver who crashed into several parked cars early Tuesday morning in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

Neighbors said it's not the first time something like this has happened.

Police said a white SUV heading south on Central Avenue crashed into multiple parked cars just south of Madison Street.

The impact heavily damaged several cars which were pushed into each other, leaving behind large pieces of debris. A gray sedan was hit so hard that the hood ended up under a purple car in front of it. 

"It was license plates and everything left out here. It just sounded like a real bad clash," said Shontae Donald, who heard the crash.

Donald said she shocked by the damage left behind after the pileup, but not surprised that it happened, because she has had her car hit there before.

"I have a Chevy Impala, and my car actually got hit right on this very front," she said.

Ravontis Lewis, whose Ford Mustang was damaged in the crash, thought someone had mistakenly hit her car while parking, until she saw video showing all the other cars that had been it, and pushed into hers.

She said her car still "drives just fine."

"It's just that little dent. But it's more like a … It's a dent, but compared to that it's a scratch," she said.

It was unclear what happened in the moments before the crash. Witnesses said they saw the driver run off afterward.

"Yeah. He's trying to get away from something," Deshun Cooper said.

Cooper took photos to show his landlord. His cousin's car was in the pileup. He said something needs to change.

"Either we need to try to invest in a parking lot for the back for our residence, or I don't know, we just need to move from right here," he said.

Police said the driver of the white SUV fled the scene. It was unclear if that driver was injured in the crash, but no one was in any of the parked cars at the time, and no other injuries were reported.

No citations have been issued as police investigate the crash.