WILD VIDEO: Car goes airborne, narrowly missing shed in Phoenix neighborhood

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A surveillance camera captured wild video of a car that lost control and went airborne in a Phoenix neighborhood Monday night. Now, police are searching for that driver.

“It could have been a warzone,” said Daniel Miller, whose surveillance camera recorded the incident. “I thought a bomb dropped.”

Phoenix police responded to the area of 23rd Avenue and Cholla Street following the crash that happened around 8 p.m. The driver ran from the scene before officers arrived.

“It was just absolutely amazing that anyone got out of there [the car] without help,” said Amy Schugar, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years. “It was flat, it was crumpled, there was glass everywhere ... I have not seen a wreck that bad before.”

Investigators believe the car went airborne after hitting a curb, then rolled over and hit a wall. A surveillance video placed on a shed shows a car coming from the direction of Cave Creek Park just before the crash.

The car is then seen flying through the air, right above the shed where Miller works as a claims adjuster who investigates car wrecks. The car hit a utility pole and power lines, temporarily knocking out power to the immediate area.

“I felt and heard thunder shaking the house for about four seconds and then a bright flash ... extremely bright,” Miller said. “I thought I would get a sunburn from it being so bright, and the electricity went out immediately.”

Somehow, no homes or other structures were damaged, but debris and skid marks remained in the street.

“I’m surprised it didn’t land in my backyard or in my shed,” Miller said. “It could have come right through the wall and injured me.”

While police can’t say if impairment was a factor since the driver hasn’t been located, Schugar believes the driver had been drinking based on what she saw that night.

“So when the tow truck driver turned the car over, there’s liquor bottles that just come flying out of the car,” Schugar said.

Neighbors tell Arizona’s Family that drag racing is a problem in the area, where many children walk and play.

“We have cars driving down here all the time going 55, 60 miles per hour,” Miller said. “They do donuts right there and then they speed back.”

According to police, investigators ran the license plate and the car had not been reported stolen.

Possible impairment aside, police say the driver would face various traffic violations and a charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

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