Suicidal driver survives plunge from parking garage's fifth floor [View All]

[matcom]

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Apparently despondent over a failed relationship, a man raced his car through a fifth-floor concrete wall of a parking lot, causing it to soar 50 feet before smashing into the second floor of a busy nearby store, police said, creating a spectacle even seasoned fire rescue workers couldn't imagine.

The fact that no one was seriously hurt, not even the driver of the 1993 Mercury Cougar, astonished many who gathered near the bizarre scene at the Shoppes of Sunset Place in South Miami late Monday.

"The physics of it are simply amazing," said Lt. Shanti Hall, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. "The rescue personnel who were attending to him couldn't believe they were talking to this guy."

Police said the driver, whose name was not released, apparently tried to kill himself. He also appeared intoxicated, police said.

The man, who is in his mid-20s, was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital after he complained of leg pains. He had not been charged as of Monday evening.

The incident took place around 6 p.m. Monday as hundreds of shoppers milled around the nearby shops and restaurants. The scene also snarled rush hour traffic along U.S. 1 for several miles each way.

Witnesses told police the man backed his car all the way to one end of the shopping mall's parking lot before gunning the accelerator. Picking up an estimated 60 mph within approximately 400 feet, the car broke through the parking lot's waist-high wall that was reinforced with steel cables. The car then arched over a small alley and a parking lot before crashing into the wall of a CVS pharmacy. The car landed on its wheels, missing a number of cars below by a few feet.

The impact against the store created a crater large enough to allow three employees inside to peer into the street below. A concrete chunk from one of the walls came smashing through the windshield and the hood of Miriam Gonzalez's Toyota that was parked next to the store.

Gonzalez, who was inside shopping for Christmas cards, said she heard an explosion and saw everyone rushing out the door.

"I ran out. I didn't know what it was. Someone told me that a car fell outside. My first thought was, `Oh, my God! My car is parked outside,' " Gonzalez recalled. "And there it is. All smashed up."

South Miami Assistant City Manager Charles Blazek said the man did not elaborate on why he tried to kill himself, but his actions made it clear that the crash was no accident.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-dcrash14dec14,0,2348186,print.story?coll=sfla-news-miami