Crash involving stolen car leads to SUV catching fire, slamming into house in West Pullman
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A crash involving a stolen car sent a sport-utility vehicle into a West Pullman neighborhood home and caused a fire Tuesday evening.
The accident happened on the corner of 116th Street and Racine Avenue around 5:30 p.m..
Police said a stolen Kia sedan hit a Dodge Durango, causing the Durango to crash into a house. Both the SUV and the house caught fire.
The crash was caught on surveillance video. The intersection is a four-way stop, and video shows both drivers ignored stop the signs before the crash.
Video shows the SUV jumping the curb and rolling over as it slams into a house, while the Kia, which was headed west on Racine, ended up a couple houses down on 116th.
It is not clear how the people in either vehicle got free, but amazingly, everyone walked away with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said the driver of the stolen Kia ran off after the crash. The passenger in the Kia was taken to Roseland Community Hospital in good condition. Two people in the Durango were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in good condition.
Meanwhile, Willie Winters lives in the duplex house where the SUV crashed, and had just left to go to the grocery store at the time of the collision. When her security company called her and let her know the house was on fire, she rushed home.
"I left everything at Jewel - and when I came down the street, parked my car, and I looked - and I'm like: 'Oh my God! My house is on fire, and there's a truck in my yard!'" Winters said.
She said she was grateful that she wasn't home at the time.
I am very grateful to God. To God be the glory - because if I had been in the house, I would have been on the couch asleep," Winters said. "I'm thankful to God that they didn't die, and I'd rather for it to be my house than for someone to bury their child, or someone to bury a loved one. It's not good to speed. It's just that split second that can cause an accident; that split second can cause to lose a life - just that split second."
And now, in a split second, Winters does not have a place to live.
Neighbors said it's not unusual for drivers to speed down the street.
"People love speed. So when they see a straight stretch down the strip, they think they're on a drag strip, you know? And they can pick up speed, and next thing you know, they're flying down 100 miles an hour," Ronald Nichols said.
Neighbors got stop signs, speed bumps, and traffic circles installed in the neighborhood to slow down cars in the area, but they said drivers still go far too fast.
The entire crash remains under investigation.
