Dramatic Video Shows Drivers Try to Stop Car From Escaping Crash

Cellphone video captured a driver’s intense escape after an alleged hit-and-run crash in Miami Sunday afternoon, where at one point someone bashed in several of the car’s windows with a mallet.In the video, the driver of a badly damaged silver Infiniti SUV reversed the car out of the scene of the accident, trying to leave as part of its fender hung off the side of the wheel well and scraped the ground. Two people then approached the driver, shouting and banging on the window. Other drivers could be seen trying to block the car.The driver was next blocked by a black SUV around the corner from the scene of the initial accident. Other people could be seen in the video trying to pry open the car doors and taking pictures of the car’s license plate.At one point, a man exited his van with a mallet and started smashing the driver’s side and rear windows of the fleeing car.The driver of the silver Infiniti SUV eventually got away. But police said the driver was later taken into custody.He was later identified as 25-year-old Maxwell Oleg Lagutenko, of Aventura. He was charged with reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident causing property damage and fleeing and eluding a police officer.The incident happened on Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 36th Street. According to City of Miami Police, the crash involved several vehicles, but no one was injured.According to an arrest report, Lagutenko was traveling northbound on Biscayne Boulevard when he crossed the median into oncoming traffic and struck another car.Lagutenko fled the scene and was spotted by an officer, who was involved in a short pursuit on Federal Highway near 48th Street, the report said.The officer was told to end the pursuit due to the city’s no chase policy of non violent crimes, the report said.When officers found Lagutenko, he seemed “to be high on narcotics,” the report said. He was taken into custody and booked into jail, where he remained held on $6,000 bond Monday, records showed. Attorney information wasn’t available.
Source: NBC San Diego