Tesla crashes into Florida homes after barreling through fence at high speeds, police say
GROVELAND, Fla. - Two homes are damaged, and a community is furious after a fiery crash in Groveland, Florida.
Glenroy Griffith, one of the homeowners whose house was hit, says he doesn’t view the incident as an accident. Instead, he says, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
"This is, from my perspective, reckless endangerment," he told FOX 35 News.
Griffith was in his front yard when he heard a boom.
The sound was a Tesla slamming through a tree and hitting a fence, hopping over a curb and crashing through three fences, then taking out another tree before slamming into Griffith’s house, and finally coming to a stop when it hit the foundation of another home’s lanai.
The car burst into flames just after Ring camera video caught the driver crawling out of it. The driver crossed over the spot where Griffith says he and his daughter had been standing less than a minute before.
"We could have been burying a lot of kids. The speed he was going, nobody had a chance," said Griffith.
The driver was in a Tesla Model S. That’s a $100,000 car that can go from zero to sixty in under two seconds. Griffith thinks the driver was going even faster than that when he crashed.
"I was a paramedic for 20 years, I raced bicycles semi-pro. I have a good idea of speed," said Griffith. "An accident, somebody has a seizure, somebody has a diabetic emergency, something goes wrong with the car. We call that an accident. This, you totally chose it"
Brittney Reynante, whose property was also damaged in the crash, was cooking when she heard the boom. She says her father looked outside and said it looked like the fence had just exploded.
"I came out here, and I looked, and everything was in complete pieces."
Reynante says she’s seen the same Tesla speeding through the neighborhood and running stop signs before.
"There’s a big, big group, and they’ve all been trying to get the speed tables up."
They’ve had no luck so far.
And now, Griffith alone is facing $60,000 or more in damage to his home.
"This isn’t an accident," Griffith repeated.
To the driver of the car, he says, "You have total disregard for life, people, and even yourself."
The driver of the Tesla was taken to a hospital and later released. Groveland Police have not yet confirmed to FOX 35 News whether the driver will face any criminal charges.