A car incident in Ferndale has led to a 38-year-old Southfield man being hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after his vehicle strayed off the road and collided with an apartment building. The crash occurred on Tuesday morning at the Ferndale 1 Apartments located on the 1400 block of West 9 Mile Road. As CBS Detroit reports, the driver was the only person in the car and required extrication by firefighters before being taken to a local hospital.
Details from Audacy describe the car as a red Buick that overturned and slid on its roof down 9 Mile Road before smashing into the Ferndale One Complex. The area was closed to traffic in both directions at Central, just west of Livernois, while emergency services, including the Oakland County Sheriff's Department Crash Reconstruction Team, responded to the incident.
No residents of the apartment building were injured as a result of the crash, despite the vehicle breaching the structure. Ferndale Fire Chief Teresa Robinson confirmed in a report by FOX 2 Detroit that "Where the car went into the building that is a stairwell, the apartment behind that I did check, and everyone there is safe, and the individuals there are safe. No injuries to any of the occupants here." Officials have inspected the building and confirmed it is structurally safe, allowing residents to remain in their homes.
Investigators are still examining the causes behind the driver crossing into the opposite lane and subsequently going off-road. "It was a lot of chaos; people crying, just trying to make sure the person in the car was okay," Kiefert Watson, an apartment resident, told CBS Detroit. As the probe continues, the building complex has resumed normal operations.
