RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Richmond man says it was “just a matter of time” before his street was the scene of a crash like the one this weekend that sent four people, including a pedestrian, to the hospital.
The Richmond Police Department (RPD) said officers responded to the intersection of West Main Street and North Robinson Street at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 14, for a report of a car crash.
RPD Crash Team investigators determined that a driver heading west on Main Street collided with another driver pulling out of a parking spot. The two cars then crashed into five parked cars, as well a pedestrian.
Four adult victims, one of whom was the pedestrian, were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Car parts, shattered glass and a damaged car remain in the neighborhood on Wednesday. One of the damaged cars now sits in front of Tabb Justis’ house, he said he came home to the mess the next day.
“My initial reaction was ‘Oh God, it finally happened,’” he said. “It was just a matter of time.”
Police haven’t pinpointed a cause, but Justis suspects it was speeding.
“It’s hard to tell who’s doing the speed limit, but when somebody’s not doing the speed limit, it’s obvious,” he said. “I mean, they fly down here. I’ve caught myself doing 45, it’s easy to do.”
Kelsey Huber, who’s lived in this neighborhood for years, said she was in a similar situation in May.
“[A driver] hit [a parked] car with so much force that it pushed that car into my car and totaled both of our cars,” she said.
Huber said crashes happen in the Fan District often and seeing car parts on the ground is a common sight.
“That’s one of the main reasons why I was like, ‘I’m ready to move out of Richmond,’” she said. “I was like, ‘It’s too crazy down here.’”
According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, there have been more than 100 crashes on Main Street in Richmond so far this year, dozens of those incidents occurred in the Fan District.
