A neighborhood neighbor, David Manpearl, who was on the scene also spoke. He stated : “At around 10:50 a.m., I heard a car speed past and looked out my window where I saw the car traveling at approximately 90 miles per hour (145 km/h). Within seconds I heard a loud crash and ran outside in flip flops because I knew someone was hurt and I was right.” He pursues : “Before approaching the car, I saw the resident of the house standing barefoot in the debris. She was in shock and frantically asked me to help her get her animals out of the house. I managed to grab the leashes of her two small dogs and escorted her out of the house. She had her two dogs with her and a turtle.“
She wasn’t answering
The man explained how he then went to the car to help the driver who was stuck inside between the airbag and the seat. He stated : “I tried to talk to her several times asking her if she was okay, but she wouldn’t respond, so I had to move closer. I was able to open the back door of the car and slip halfway inside. This time, when I asked her if she was okay, she said no.“
Also trapped in the flames, the man was forced to leave the scene. “I tried talking to him again and noticed that there was more and more smoke and the flames were now to my right and left, so I quickly got out of the car, he stated, “I was sure the driver was dead. That she had burned. It took firefighters at least 30 minutes to extinguish the flames, extract the car and get her out of the car.“
Fortunately, the owner of the affected house, along with all of her pets, including a turtle, were not injured.