CLEVELAND — One person is dead, and four others are injured after a multi-vehicle crash occurred Friday afternoon involving a stolen vehicle, according to the Cleveland Division of Police.
Around 5:20 p.m., Cleveland officers responded to the area of W. 150th Street and Lorain Avenue for a crash involving five vehicles, polcie said.
According to Cleveland Police, the 22-year-old driver of a 2017 GMC Acadia was driving well above the speed limit while traveling westbound on Lorain Avenue. As he reached the Warren Road and West 150th Street intersection, he changed lanes, striking two other vehicles.
One of the vehicles struck was pushed into a fourth vehicle, and then traveled onto the eastbound lane, striking a fifth vehicle, police said.
After hitting the first two vehicles, the 22-year-old then traveled off the roadway and struck a fire hydrant, police said.
As a result of the crash, five people were transported to a nearby hospital, police said:
- A 22-year-old man (driver of the GMC)
- A 23-year-old man with unspecified injuries
- A 22-year-old woman with critical injuries
- A 21-year-old man with unspecified injuries
- A 54-year-old man who was pronounced dead at the hospital
According to police, it is believed that the GMC that caused the crash was stolen from the 3700 block of West 130th Street shortly before the crash occurred. The victim, who was allegedly stolen from, left the vehicle running in a driveway when the 22-year-old took it.
The 22-year-old driver remains in the hospital, but is under arrest for aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and grand theft of a motor vehicle, police said.
He will be transported to the Cuyahoga County Jail once he is medically cleared, police said.
News 5 crews were on the scene and could see massive debris from one of the cars on the main road:
The front of one of the cars was completely damaged.
One witness, Sonny, said he was walking when the GMC flew past him, apparently traveling at 75 MPH.
"It's a 25 mile an hour road," he said. "As soon as I seen it, I knew something bad was gonna happen."
He told News 5's Kaylee Olivas the driver appeared to be moving to the passenger seat while the car was in motion.
"I don't know what was going on. It looked so, so, so dramatic. As soon as I heard something, you know, I just started telling people to call 911 right away," said Sonny. "Everybody's in shock, so I turned around and I hear crying and I hear somebody scream. I didn't know if it was a child or somebody else. I knew she was like, in pain."
Sonny said he started working as quickly as possible to free people from their vehicles.
He said he pulled one woman from her car, who was in bad shape. He said he saw another man get pulled from a different vehicle, who looked purple.
"I just started praying. I started praying. I started praying in the name of Jesus, and I just kept praying," Sonny said. "That was, you know, like real crazy stuff. I ain't never seen nothing like that in my life."
We also talked with one of the drivers involved in the crash, Joe Barto.
"We are sitting at the light. We're headed to Target. All of a sudden we heard cars squealing. We heard sheet metal, cars banging off each other. The next thing you know, cars are just spinning. There was just shrapnel and cars spinning, rolling, flipping all over the place," Barto said.
Barto told us his car was the least impacted in the crash. His airbags did not deploy, he said.
Barto said the accident scared his wife, who was also in the car and put him in a state of shock.
"She was shaking, but I was in shock. I ran to the cars that are not in good shape and I just started trying to get people out," Barto said. "Three people from that car were taken away. The car in the middle (of the) intersection, he was taken away, and the driver of the stolen car was taken in an ambulance. You put people's lives in jeopardy here."
The crash remains under investigation, police said.
