POUGHKEEPSIE – City police in Poughkeepsie and firefighters responded to a report of a car that crashed into a building on Mill Street Thursday afternoon at approximately 1:24 p.m. Witnesses told police that the driver fled from the scene moments after the wreck.
Police and firefighters responded to the rear of 162 Mill Street and located a large Ford SUV that had crashed through a chain link fence, went down a short, steep embankment in the backyard, plowed into a workbench and grill, and stopped less than a foot from hitting the supports of a three-story deck on the back of the structure.
A witness told police and Mid-Hudson News that the driver, a child appearing to be about eight years old, climbed from the vehicle and ran away before emergency personnel arrived.
Poughkeepsie firefighters worked to secure the vehicle from traveling into the structure and removed a portion of the fence to allow the vehicle to be towed out of the yard.
Police interviewed the vehicle owner, who is the property manager for the Poughkeepsie Village apartment complex on North Perry Street, adjacent to the Mill Street multi-family house. He said his vehicle had been parked in the lot at the complex before being stolen and damaged.
The SUV was pulled out into the apartment complex parking lot by Redl’s under the supervision of police, firefighters, a city building inspector, and witnesses. The vehicle sustained heavy damage to the front while the building appeared to be structurally stable.
Police are attempting to locate the youth who was allegedly operating the vehicle.
