3 dead after car that slammed into Miami home catches fire
MIAMI - Three people are dead, two others injured, after a car crashed into a Miami home early Wednesday morning and then burst into flames.
Miami police said five people were inside of the duplex along NE 82 Street and NE 3 Place when the driver somehow lost control and crashed into a front bedroom shortly after 5 a.m.
"I heard a loud boom, then I looked through the window and that's when I saw the fire," said a woman who lives in the area.
She said when she went outside, she could see people trapped in the car.
A woman who called 911, who did not want her name used in this report, described the frantic moments when an officer ran toward the burning car to help.
"The officer comes, he runs out. He clearly throws his car into park mode and tries to get someone out. One of them, he was able to pull someone out," she said.
"Two of the occupants were still trapped inside of the vehicle when we first arrived. Once we were able to extinguish the fire we were able to remove the other two occupants and unfortunately they were pronounced dead on the scene," said Miami Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll.
The third person, pulled from the vehicle, was taken to the hospital where they died.
Miami police have identified the three people in the car as 23-year-olds Bayle Pricilla Bucceri and Ernesto Enrique Carralero and 22-year-old Candido Miguel Barroso-Nodarse.
Investigators said two people sleeping in the bedroom were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. One of them, Jacker Surlin, was released later in the morning.
"I have too much pain all right there. I have too much pain right now," he said.
Surlin said his brother, who was also in the room, is still in the hospital.
"What woke me up is the wall when it dropped on me, I was sleeping. It just woke up and I saw the fire," he said.
Surlin told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "I tried to get up right away but I could not. I tried to move a little bit. I got hurt when the building dropped on me."
Surlin said he grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to put out the flames coming from the car.
I tried to spray on the car, keep spraying, keep spraying until it was done. The fire didn't even die," he said.
He said his mother, who was in the home at the time but not in the room, went into what he called 'panic mode' when she saw her son covered in blood.
"I saw the wall and said 'woah, get out, get out," she said.
Those who live in the duplex will need to find a temporary place to stay until the building is deemed safe.
"Because of the amount of damage that was caused by the impact, the building department will determine whether or not the unit is safe to reoccupy," said Carroll.
Neighbors said speeding on NE 82nd Street has become a common occurrence in the area.
Miami Police spokesman, Officer Mike Vega, said speed was a factor in this accident.
"This is a prime example of how speed kills. This is an example of what speed can do. I know as far back as 20 years we have been having problems with speeding at this location. Motorcycle units often go there and set up radar where they ticket vehicles that are speeding but this is an ongoing problem and no matter what the speed limit is vehicles want to speed in this long stretch."
A spokeswoman for the City of Miami says as far as any changes to the road, that decision would have to come from the state as the road is under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Transportation.