MIAMI – Cleanup work was underway at KO ZONE gym in Miami less than a day after a car careened into the side of the building as police were looking for a vehicle theft suspect.
Surveillance cameras were rolling when the crash occurred at 301 NW 54th St. Tuesday night in the city’s Little Haiti neighborhood, sending one of three cars involved into the gym while people were working out.
Some of the gymgoers inside were just inches away from where the car hit the wall.
“When I was walking by behind me, I hear the noise,” said trainer Tomas Garcia. “And then, of course, the cars, and then I saw the wall breaking apart.”
Yeshimabet Milner lives near the gym and said she heard the crash around 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“I’m so thankful that no one was killed,” she said. “I ran outside and I saw the car flipped over, a red car smashed in front and someone I assume was the suspect handcuffed to the ground, yelling and screaming.”
According to police, officers first attempted a traffic stop on a suspected stolen car, but the driver kept going, eventually causing the crash nearby.
Police said a woman was trapped in one of the crashed vehicles, and she is now at the hospital with critical injuries.
The suspect inside the stolen car, whom police haven’t publicly identified, is now also fighting to survive, authorities said.
Police haven’t specified whether the suspect was driving the vehicle that crashed into the building.
“To find out that it was a police chase, was extremely terrifying,” said Milner.