DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A wild video captures the moment Sunday when a speeding car barreled down the street, smashed into a toll booth and landed in the ocean on a Volusia County beach.
Five people, including a 5-year-old boy, were injured when the driver, suffering from a medical episode, approached the Daytona International Speedway around 5 p.m. Sunday, Volusia County Beach Safety said.
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Surveillance video from a beachside hotel shows the car plowing through the toll booth before coming to a stop at the water’s edge on the sand.
In videos released by Volusia County Beach Safety on Tuesday, people in the parking lot and pool area by the beach can be seen running closer and shouting to find out what happened.
According to an incident report, a woman in the car tried to remove the driver’s foot from the accelerator, but she was only able to steer through traffic during the incident.
Tamra Malphurs, Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue Deputy Chief, said all four people in the vehicle and the 5-year-old boy on the beach were transported to the hospital.
While the other victims were taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons, Malphurs said the boy struck by the car, identified by his father as David Alamos, sustained major cuts to his arm and chest.
“I saw him coming up again (after the crash), but he was crying and he had a big cut (on) his chest,” Hugo Alamos told News 6 from the hospital where his son is being treated and is in stable condition. “It was really bad. There was blood coming out. I saw a policeman in the red truck, and I told him, ‘Help me, please, my son is hurt.’”
The Alamos’ were visiting from Nashville, Tennessee, where they plan to return once David is discharged from the hospital.
“We’re very fortunate that no one else was injured. That is a very busy beach access ramp. It’s usually in that time of day we usually have a lot of people in that area,” Malphurs said.
Drone video surveys the aftermath of the crash, showing the debris strewn where the vehicle made a path and the damaged car on the shoreline.
The driver was cited for careless driving and an investigation is ongoing, beach officials said.
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