High-Speed Stolen Van Chase Ends With Crash Into Home
HUDSON, N.H. (CBS) - A young man was seriously hurt after police say he stole a minivan, led officers on a chase, and then crashed into a home in Hudson, New Hampshire early Friday morning.
Antonio Velazquez, 19, of Hudson, was rushed to a hospital in Boston after the crash.
Police say he was speeding down Highland Street and running red lights just before 6 a.m. in a stolen Chrysler Voyager. In the back of the van was a 2009 Ducati motorcycle.
Minutes after officers tried to stop him, Velazquez slammed the van into a house on Baker Street. The impact was so severe it cracked and moved the foundation. A utility panel and a car in the driveway were also damaged.
Resident James Quinn was inside when he heard a "big thump" and felt the house shake. When he stepped outside, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"(I) heard the cops behind the car screaming, 'Get out of the car!' with their guns drawn," he told WBZ-TV.
Firefighters pulled Velazquez out of the wreckage. No one else was hurt.
"He had his hands up. They used the jaws of life to get him out," Quinn said.
"It took probably about a half-hour, 25 minutes to get him out of that vehicle and into an ambulance and off to the hospital," Hudson Police Captain Bill Avery told reporters.
Velazquez now faces several charges, including receiving stolen property, driving without a valid license and speeding. Investigators said neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be factors in the crash.
It's not clear yet if the motorcycle in the back of the minivan was stolen.
Velazquez will be arraigned next month Nashua District Court.
The house has been deemed unsafe because of the damage from the crash, so all of the residents now have to find new homes.
"It's unsafe to live in it until everything is fixed. We have no gas, no electricity, no water," Quinn said.
