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Car slams into home

WARREN – What started as a quiet Father’s Day turned into a very loud Sunday afternoon for some southeast side families.

Joyce Brett said that about 2:30 p.m. she heard a bang at their 2454 Burton St. S.E. home and went outside in time to see a person in black Buick pulling out of the neighbor’s yard and leaving quickly.

”We heard a loud crash and I went outside and saw him high-tailing it out of the yard and then down the road at a high rate of speed,” Joyce Brett said.

That’s when she saw that a wooden wheelchair ramp on the side of their home and a garbage can had been hit and damaged, as were

the neighbor’s fence and several large flower pots. Skid marks also could be seen on the roadway, and there were large ruts hers and neighbors’ front yards.

”My husband could have been coming down the ramp and been killed. Our dog could have been out there,” she said.

He husband, Robert Brett, who uses a wheelchair, said he was thankful that their German shepherd, which usually is in the yard during the day, was inside at the time.

Joyce Brett, whose teenage grandson, John Shamrock, was visiting, said there are always young children playing in the neighborhood.

”What if there had been some of the neighbor children riding their bikes?” she said.

Warren police said late Sunday that more information about the driver – including his name – was not available because the incident report was not complete.

Joyce Brett said the driver returned later in the day and told them and a neighbor that his insurance would cover the damage.

”He was a young man and apologized for what happened. He said someone in another vehicle had a gun and was shooting at him and he was trying to get away,” she said.

According to scanner traffic from around the same time, a male driver contacted police from a Tod Avenue location saying he was being chased by a person with a gun.

A female resident who lives nearby and asked not be identified said she heard loud vehicle noises, went to her front porch and saw a male driver back up very quickly on the road, lose control, hit a small ditch and drive through the fence.

”I couldn’t believe how fast he was going and he was driving backwards. I couldn’t get it in my head why he was driving backwards so fast,” she said.

The resident said she saw a green car follow the black Buick when it left.

bcoupland@tribtoday.com

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