CITY OF SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Police are searching for a driver who smashed a car into a College Park home after speeding away from a traffic stop.
Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach was on the scene Tuesday morning as crews towed the smashed, overturned vehicle out of the rubble of one side of the home.
College Park police said they pulled a car over for a seat belt violation on Old National Highway around 10:30 Monday night. After initially pulling over, they say the driver turned off the lights and sped away.
The officer did not continue to chase the driver. Police told Gehlbach the driver was in a rental car.
Gehlbach spoke to the homeowner, who said she woke up Monday night to a loud boom and the whole house shook.
"I"m going to tell you the truth, it sounded like a plane had crashed," homeowner Sarah Young said.
Young told Gehlbach the speeding driver overshot the curve, went airborne and flew over a truck before smashing into the home's outside kitchen wall and garage doors. The impact was so intense it knocked the fridge door open inside and all the food ended up on the floor.
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The driver was able to get out of the flipped car and run, but Gehlbach saw blood at the scene.
"He's hurt," Young said. "He's got to be hurt the way that car is torn up."
Sarah Young said it isn't the first time in the 30 years she's lived on the curved stretch of road that she's seen a crash or a chase: She says eight or nine cars have come off the road and into her yard over the years.
"It's a 25-mile-an-hour (zone) and they cannot break that curve," Young said.
Police are still searching for the suspect.