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Erratic driver damages multiple cars, takes out fence in Wednesday wreck

December 1, 2016
<p>Photo courtesy of Crystal Hensley</p>

Photo courtesy of Crystal Hensley

A man hit and damaged multiple vehicles Wednesday morning near Lake Lansing and Coolidge roads, East Lansing Police Department Lt. Scott Wriggelsworth said. 

Wriggelsworth said the man damaged seven cars, including his own, in the incident and was taken into custody.

The incident started when the driver was on I-127, went down the Lake Lansing ramp and veered off the road. He then went down a "significant embankment" while running into a parked delivery vehicle in the process according to Wriggelsworth. 

The driver tried to go back up the Lake Lansing ramp, but managed to get stuck in a fence. After freeing his car from the fence, Wriggelsworth said the man proceeded to damage five cars. 

Wriggelsworth said there were no serious injuries, but one person sustained a minor shoulder injury.

Crystal Hensley, a Leslie resident, was one of the victims involved in the Wednesday morning incident.

Hensley said she was going down the Lake Lansing ramp on I-127 when she heard something hit her window and when she looked to see what caused the noise, she saw the driver in the westbound lane on the ramp getting off on Lake Lansing Road.

She said she thought the driver was just someone who was impatient and in a hurry.

Hensley then saw the driver go up the ramp while driving erratically and suddenly, veered over sharply to the right and went down the embankment into the Hall of Fame Cafe. Moments later, Hensley said the man took out a wall and then a fence in front of him with his vehicle.

“I sat there and watched him for a minute and then I took off and turned onto Lake Lansing Road and I looked over again at the corner of my eye and I saw him coming right at me,” Hensley said. “He pulled out of the Hall of Fame (Cafe) onto Lake Lansing Road driving crazy, and I thought he was going to stop and get into the line of traffic, but he hit a car behind me and then he came up beside me real fast and hit me and then he veered over to the left and started taking out cars in the left lane.”

When Hensley got out of her car to assess the majority of the damage to her Traverse SUV, the suspect had already fled the scene.

The entire driver’s side back quarter panel on her SUV has to be replaced along with the taillight on that same side.

An employee at the Hall of Fame Cafe said the driver wasn’t phased at all by the damage he had created.

“He got out of the car like nothing happened telling a guy that the devil made him do it," the employee said via Facebook. "(He walked) down the street to (a) hotel asking for room 666. Then after he found out there was no room 666, he started kicking a door and then punching the fire alarm.”

As for the driver’s intentions, Hensley said several people told her they heard the suspect, who was “in full Army gear," say the devil made him do it and that "God will take care of you."

Hensley said she did not sustain any injuries.

“I’m completely fine,” Hensley said. “Thankfully, everybody that was involved is completely fine. I was obviously super shaken up.”

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