News just down the block from WSB HQ right now. Somebody made a deafening racket crashing a VW Jetta through the DO NOT ENTER sign at California/Thistle (map), heading southbound on California (the dead-end direction in which you’re not supposed to enter), and ending up against the front steps of a house at California/Sullivan. Nobody hurt, but the driver, according to neighbors, took off, apparently northbound on California; the only description is male, in a white shirt. Police have been called. The car is still there in the stairs, DO NOT ENTER sign against its hood, smoking; chunks of debris, including the concrete that held the sign, litter the street. 3:48 AM NOTE: An officer arrived within minutes of a neighbor’s call; another one headed out in search of the runaway driver. First question some (including us) had – was it a stolen car? Responding officer checked and says it’s not reported as such.
4:51 AM UPDATE: Police found the suspect, brought him back to the scene for witness ID (we weren’t the witnesses, we only heard the crash; the driver had bolted before we went out to see what had happened), and took him away. The car’s being towed, and SDOT has arrived to clean up the street debris and mark the suddenly signless “wrong way” street end; the car pushed/dragged the DO NOT ENTER sign more than 100 feet.
| 14 COMMENTS