Police are searching for a driver who they say fled the scene of a multi-vehicle crash that led to an apartment building catching fire in North Philadelphia on Monday.
The unidentified man was driving a red 2019 Dodge SUV at a high speed northbound on Ridge Avenue at 9:50 p.m., police said. At the same time, a 53-year-old woman was driving a 2014 Subaru westbound on Diamond Street.
The Dodge crashed into the Subaru at the intersection of Ridge Avenue and Diamond Street, according to investigators. The Dodge then struck several parked vehicles and crashed into an apartment building along the 3000 block of West Diamond Street.
The impact shattered the windows, destroyed the doors and dismantled the steps of the building. Police also said the crash -- which was captured on surveillance video -- caused the building to catch fire.
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"We heard this big kaboom. Come running out here you see all the cars all smashed up. Then you hear a lady inside their howling. Trying to get out. We had to help her get out of there," Brian Colclough, a neighbor, told NBC10. "This is crazy. Can't be flying up and down the streets like this. We got little kids out here."
Michael Brown, a tenant of the building, told NBC10 he was initially trapped inside the complex after the crash.
"Most horrific noise and it was like jarring because then the building actually shook," he said. "We were basically trapped in the building because the front door was mangled."
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Brown said he and other tenants got out of the building through a neighbor's back door. That's when they saw the path of destruction with at least seven vehicles damaged, including his own.
The driver of the Dodge fled the scene on foot in an unknown direction, according to investigators. His passenger, a 36-year-old woman, remained trapped inside the damaged SUV. Colclough told NBC10 he and others pulled the woman out of the vehicle.
"She was trapped up in there," Colclough said. "We had to help her get out. We had to break the other side of the glass."
The 36-year-old woman along with the driver of the Subaru and her passenger were all taken to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
As police continue to investigate and search for the driver who fled the scene, residents are hoping the incident will lead to the city installing speed bumps in their neighborhood.
"People speed up and down this part of Diamond Street all night long," Brown said. "Some nights it sounds like a drag race."
Licenses and Inspection officials arrived at the scene of the crash and deemed the building unsafe. Brown said most of the residents who lived in the building had only been there less than a year. Now they'll have to find another place to stay for at least the next few months.
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