ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The St. Petersburg Police Department is investigating after a driver in a stolen truck rammed into several parked cars on Sunday morning.
The incident happened around 6 a.m. on Dec. 10 on 2nd Avenue South in St. Petersburg.
Ronnie Barnes said his wife woke up to commotion. Surveillance video shows the driver of the stolen truck ramming into his Hyundai Tuscon.
"This is our money. It comes out of our insurance. Our insurance is going to raise our rates and we had to pay a deductible. We have to get rental cars. I have to find alternative ways to get back and forth to work," said Ronnie Barnes.
Ernesto Cordeiro also had his vehicle damaged.
"There were pieces and parts and fluids, there was a tire on fire in the middle of the street, so we started looking at the damage, a lot of damage, and no one knew what was going on," said Cordeiro.
St. Petersburg Police said nine vehicles were damaged, and the driver has not been caught.
"When the truck was disabled and would no longer run, the driver jumped out of the truck and ran off, and so our officers surrounded the area. We even had a K9 out there trying to track, but we were not able to locate the driver," said Yolanda Fernandez with the St. Petersburg Police Department. "We had reports that he tried to knock on some doors. Again, not sure what that was about since we were not able to find him."
Neighbors said this is not the first time someone has driven recklessly and damaged parked cars. Barnes has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years. He said vehicles have been damaged at least three separate times.
"It's really bad when you can't park in front of your house because you're going to lose your car," said Barnes. "I really hope the city takes notice of this and sees if they can come up with a plan of action, kinda slow people down, help protect us."
Police are asking neighbors to provide officers with any surveillance video to help identify the suspect.
