MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — An ordinary day has turned into a tragedy after a driver crashes into an apartment complex on Raymond and Lee in Maple Heights due to speeding.
Now one woman is dead and her neighbors are heartbroken following this unfortunate event.
“She could cook,” said Wanda Leverett, a resident inside the building. “She was always cooking stuff, giving people samples of what she made. We talked on the phone all the time, every day and she was just cool.”
Now, Leverett is left with the memories of her friend, who she’ll always remember as the matriarch of their building.
“I’m going to miss her,” said Leverett.
Around 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Maple Heights officers responded to a call of a vehicle in an apartment building.
“The building shook, and this intersection is real bad,” said Leverett. “There are always accidents.”
But never did Leverett imagine, when she walked outside her unit, the end result would be this.
“I came around to her window where the car had gone through, and I saw her lying face down on the floor,” said Leverett.
Chief Todd Hansen says the woman died from her injuries after the vehicle struck her inside her home.
“The driver is currently being treated at the hospital, and there was one other person inside the apartment that was not seriously injured,” said Maple Heights Police Department Chief Todd Hansen.
Hansen says investigators have yet to determine if drugs or alcohol are a factor in this accident.
However, they do know the driver had been speeding.
“All we know is that the vehicle was going at a high rate of speed prior to entering and obviously fast enough to go through the wall of the apartment and completely inside,” said Hansen.
Leverett advocated for drivers to be aware.
“It’s got to stop, and I know there wasn’t even another car involved. It was just that one car so just pray,” said Leverett.
The Red Cross is working with tenants to help them find relocation until the building is safe to enter again.
Police have not released the identity of the woman who died in the apartment unit.
Meanwhile, the driver's condition is unknown.
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