PLANTATION, Fla. – A driver who was sleeping inside of a U-Haul van fled from officers Thursday morning before crashing the van into two parked vehicles and then ending up partially submerged in a lake, authorities said.
The incident ended at the St. Tropez Apartments on Cleary Boulevard.
A Local 10 News crew went to the scene and saw that the driver’s side window was clearly busted out.
An Army veteran who Iives on Ninth Court at the Townhouses at Jacaranda told Local 10 News reporter Madeleine Wright that he came outside to feed his cats around 5 a.m. when he noticed the van parked outside his home with the engine running.
After 15 minutes of the van being parked there, he became suspicious and knocked on the window, but the driver was asleep.
“I went up and knocked on the glass and there was someone sleeping in the driver’s seat and he didn’t budge. And I beat harder and he didn’t budge. And then I noticed there was a gun on his lap, so then I went inside and called the police,” the veteran said.
Plantation Police Officer Chavez Grant confirmed that officers responded to a call about a suspicious person sleeping in a van.
Responding officers woke up the driver, who then fled the area, knocking down a yellow pole, driving in between two sets of trees and grazing a palm tree, the veteran said.
A police officer tried to follow him, but her car got stuck where the driver had knocked down the pole.
Further down the road, still at the Townhouses at Jacaranda, the driver of the U-Haul allegedly drove down a ditch and knocked down a steel barricade.
An employee at the St. Tropez Apartments said he then crossed Cleary Boulevard, left the roadway, drove onto the grass, mowed down the bushes, drove onto the pedestrian walkway and knocked down a mailbox. Authorities confirmed that he then drove through the parking lot, hitting two parked cars before crashing the van into the lake.
“About 5 after 6, we were sitting on the balcony and all of a sudden cop cars start flying in. I mean -- all Plantation -- three, four, five. I was like, ‘What the heck is going on?’ And they’re like spinning through the neighborhood – I mean, like speeding through, and then about 10 minutes later all of a sudden there’s the Broward (Sheriff’s) helicopter, so we knew something was up,” Andrea Garrett, who lives at the apartment complex said.
Despite an aerial and ground search of the area, Grant said police have not been able to locate the driver.
“I’m not worried. I’m a veteran and I have a license to carry. If he comes back here, it will be the worst decision he ever made,” the man who called 911 said.
Authorities searched the van before it was towed away. Police said the van contained some drinks, a couple chairs, a cellphone and clothes.
The investigation remains ongoing.