Local

Driver runs off after plowing SUV into east Charlotte condo building

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police are looking for the driver of an SUV that slammed into a Charlotte condominium building overnight in east Charlotte.

The crash happened just before 2 a.m. Wednesday at the Hunting Ridge Condominiums off Idlewild Road.

Police said the SUV tore through a fence and then slammed into the building, and the driver ran away from the scene.

One person was inside the unit at the time, but they were not hurt.

“I saw smoke, I didn’t know what was going on from the inside,” neighbor Thomas Williams said.

Williams was just one of dozens of residents startled awake.

The gate smashed into Ciara Sabir’s windows in the unit right next door.

“It was like a bomb, it was a shake in the whole apartment building,” she said.

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It’s just a fraction of the damage compared to her neighbor’s now nearly demolished unit.

“We didn’t know what was going on until I came downstairs and opened up my front door and saw this Expedition inside my neighbor’s house,” Sabir said.

Neighbors said the crash happened so quickly, they were unable to get a good look at the driver.

“By the time we came out, it was just the vehicle with nobody in it,” Sabir said.

Officials said the unit is unsafe to live in, but neighbors are waiting to hear if the rest of the building is compromised as well.

Anyone with information about the crash or the driver is asked to call 911.