Alleged Road Rage Driver Takes Off After Vehicle Slams Into Home In Ridgefield Park
RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - An SUV smashed into the front porch of a home in Ridgefield Park Wednesday afternoon.
Another vehicle - a truck carrying a new door - hit the side of an adjoining house.
Police say it all started with a case of road rage.
Flames burst from the SUV after it slammed into the porch of the home on Brewster Avenue.
"That's the crazy world we're living in right now," neighbor Carmen Roman said.
Roman, who lives across the street, says she ran towards the home when she saw the flames. She was worried about the elderly neighbor who lives there.
"I said 'oh my gosh, she's in there', but thank God we got her out," she said.
Once she was out safely, neighbors realized she had been hurt by flying debris. One witness said she was bleeding a lot from her leg.
Luckily, a doctor who lives in the neighborhood happened to be home and rushed to her aid.
Ibrahim Omar says the doctor is his brother, Mohammed.
"He came out running, had me grab his stethoscope from the car and he put some gloves on," Omar said.
Police say it was a road rage incident that led to the crash. Amidst the commotion, Roman says the driver of the SUV got out and had no intentions of staying.
"We ran over there and a guy jumps in to another car that was here and I'm telling my brother in law 'don't let him leave, don't let him leave', but the guy took off," Roman said.
As for the elderly woman, neighbors say she often sits outside on the same front porch. This afternoon, she fortunately changed her routine before the violent collision.
"She said she was at the dining table just a few feet inside her house," Omar said. "She's really nice, we see her around a lot. She's on her porch a lot, she's a really nice lady."
Late Wednesday, crews started to shore up the home and clean the debris left behind.
"You can see in her dining room," Roman said. "Very sad to think that something like that would happen here."
The woman who was injured is recovering at the hospital with her family by her side. Authorities tell CBS2 she's expected to be okay.
It wasn't immediately known whether police had found the driver responsible.