Woman Arrested After Her SUV Flips While Doing Doughnuts, Crushing 5 Minors
A 19-year-old Colorado woman was taken into custody Sunday after a joyride in a parking lot left a handful of her passengers crushed under her SUV, police said.
Graphic video of the incident, taken Saturday night, shows the black SUV — allegedly driven by the woman, Marisol Wentling — doing doughnuts at a strip mall in Colorado Springs, as five passengers hang out of the windows. The SUV rolls over, crushing passengers underneath, and about a dozen onlookers rush to their aid.
Wentling was later arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault over the crash.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Springs Police Department told NBC News that the five passengers were underage and had been taken to area hospitals with life-threatening injuries. Three of the injured teens remain in critical condition, while the two others have been released.
Wentling and her passengers allegedly went to the strip mall for a meet-up with other drivers, according to Law & Crime. Local people told KRDO that the lot is a regular meeting place for drivers to do doughnuts and race.
“It’s been like every third or fourth night out here, there’s somebody out here squealing tires,” local worker Francis Barclay told the outlet. “I feel for those kids. ... I hope they survive, and if they survive, I hope they never do that again.”