NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A car slammed into a North Miami Beach real estate storefront early Friday morning, causing extensive damage to the business and one next door.
The crash happened on North Miami Beach Boulevard east of Northeast 10th Avenue about 1 a.m.
Business owner Ronan Hazan told Local 10 News that the driver of the black Dodge Charger lost control and skidded across the opposite lanes of traffic before crashing into the businesses.
North Miami Beach police issued the 39-year-old driver a citation for careless driving, but his daughter arrived at the scene later Friday morning to set the record straight. She said her father swerved to avoid hitting a pedestrian who ran out into the road in front of him.
"And they just left the scene," Santiana Thanus said. "They didn't even stop. They ran in front of him, so he's just trying to, like, get control of the car, but he couldn't, so he just let it go. … (He said), 'Either I hit him or I just let it go.' And that's what he did."
Surveillance video shows the car appear to swerve out of the way of a pedestrian.
The driver suffered minor injuries and had to be taken to a hospital.
Hazan said he's just glad it happened when it did.
"If it happened during the day, it would be a different story, but thank God, nobody (was) injured (and) nobody (was) hurt, so we're happy about that," he said.
Follow Roger Lohse on Twitter @RogerLohse
Follow Local 10 News on Twitter @WPLGLocal10