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Mother whose SUV was totaled in gnarly Mentor crash says her life has been 'destroyed'

Posted at 3:07 PM, Apr 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-26 07:58:21-04

Remember that stolen SUV that was obliterated when it hit a semi in Mentor on Tuesday morning? The Brooklyn mother who owned the vehicle didn't know it had been involved in a crash until she read about it on the News 5 Cleveland website, and she's devastated. 

In case you missed it: Mentor police stopped a car on Lakeshore Boulevard that had plates marked as stolen, but the driver sped off and seconds later drove directly into an oncoming tractor-trailer. The driver, identified as Jonathon Scott Paradiso, 33, had to be extricated from the Jeep Cherokee and life-flighted to a hospital.

"I'm bewildered because I have a 4-year-old, and I can't really do anything now," said Amber Samkas. "I mean, it is what it is, but how am I going to go here, how am I gonna go there, now that he literally destroyed my life?"

RELATED Driver extricated from car, life-flighted to hospital after crash with semi at Mentor intersection