MUNCIE, Ind. (WTHR) – A handicapped parking sign leans over and is bent in several places in the first parking spot in the lot next to the Be Here Now Bar in Muncie.
A trash container against the wall of the building sits crumpled and leaning to one side. Both damaged items were hit by a car early Saturday morning. That same car hit at least three people as well.
The Muncie Police Department provided two cell phone videos from separate angles that show a white Dodge Charger plowing into the crowd Saturday morning just after 3:00 a.m.
The car first backs out of a parking spot as someone on foot bangs on the car and curses. But instead of exiting the lot, the car lurches forward.
Three people are struck, knocked off their feet and thrown into the concrete wall of the building. The car continues forward, driving over a parking block. As the victims get back to their feet, the car backs out and flees the scene.
Ball State University juniors Cydney Marshall and Alexa Susemichel, both from Fishers, live right around the corner from the parking lot. But they had no knowledge of the Labor Day weekend incident until they were shown the videos.
"Wow! I had no idea that that would have happened here," said Susemichel.
"Completely wrong way to handle the situation is running over someone, obviously," said Marshall. "He could have killed them."
29-year-old Keith Childress sped away from the scene, then wrecked his new Charger fleeing police. He fled on foot and was at large until turning himself in Monday night.
Childress faces faces felony charges of aggravated battery, leaving the scene of an accident with injury, criminal recklessness with a vehicle and resisting law enforcement in a vehicle. He is also charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of a property damage accident, both misdemeanors.
Muncie Police Detective Kyle Monroe has reviewed the videos and sees Childress using his car like a deadly weapon.
"It shows him trying to leave, backing up," said Monroe. “Nobody's behind him at the time. Then he stops and goes through the crowd. In my opinion, he obviously could have just left when he started to leave. But he decided to do something else."
Monroe says an argument at Brothers Bar and Grill apparently spilled down Dill Street and escalated when Childress got in his car.
"If you mix alcohol with anger, you're going to get some problems," said Muncie resident Bob Bivens after he looked at the video. "It sounds to me like if it was three o'clock, they had probably been pounding a couple of beers all night."
Susemichel actually works at Brothers, where the incident may have started. But she was not there Saturday.
"He could have left the situation," said Susemichel. "It could have all been in the past. His car was nice. I'm sure he did some damage to that and if you said he wrecked it, I can't believe that happened. I still can't believe that happened right here."
Remarkably, no one suffered serious injuries in the incident. Only cuts, scrapes and bruises were reported.