‘It was a mess’: Video shows vehicle smashing into parked cars in Bedford, N.S.

Watch: Dashcam video shows an SUV crashing into multiple parked vehicles in Halifax. One youth has been arrested at this time. Callum Smith reports.

Police are investigating a hit-and-run after a vehicle smashed into several parked cars in the Bedford, N.S., area – and the whole thing was caught on camera.

Halifax Regional Police responded to reports of a crash in a parking lot of Shaunslieve Drive, which has a posted speed limit of 15 km/h, just before 9 p.m. Thursday.

Police found a damaged vehicle abandoned in the middle of the roadway, but they say the driver and passengers had all fled the scene.

“Several other parked vehicles were located with various degrees of damage,” police told CTV News Atlantic. “All vehicles that were struck were unoccupied at the time of the collision and there were no reported physical injuries.”

Officers found one person connected to the vehicle on the Bedford Highway a short time later and they arrested the 17-year-old. They did not say whether the youth was the driver or a passenger and there is no word on potential charges at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

Incident caught on camera

Dashcam video shows the white Ford Escape travelling at a high rate of speed before smashing into a parked vehicle, creating a domino effect and leaving two other parked vehicles badly damaged.

The vehicle then backs up and into another car. At least four people are seen getting out of the vehicle at different times, including a female who is holding what appears to be a bong.

James Harvie lives in the area and his dashcam is the one that captured the incident.

“I happen to live in the apartment right outside where it happened and we were just sort of relaxing and I heard quite a commotion going on so I ran to the balcony to see what was happening and that’s when I witnessed the aftermath of the crash,” Harvie told CTV News Atlantic.

“At first all I could see was a car backed into another one. Then, when I came out on the balcony and looked over, I could see the destruction.”

Harvie called the police and the building’s resident manager to report the crash. Once it was safe, he went over to his vehicle, connected his phone to his dashcam, and downloaded the footage to give to the officers.

“I’m thankful we have it set up so it always records because you don’t know what kinds of things people are going to pull in parking lots, unfortunately, and try to get away with,” he said. “It baffles our mind honestly. I feel terrible for the ones impacted.”

Car owner frustrated by lack of communication

Among those impacted is Josh Kersey, who owns the first vehicle that was struck.

However, he missed all the commotion Thursday night and didn’t find out about the incident until the next day, when his girlfriend called him to ask where the car was.

“I honestly thought she was joking, I wasn’t sure,” said Kersey. “Then she FaceTimed me and she showed me the parking spot where the car was parked the night before, and as soon as I saw the parking spot was empty and all the sand on the ground, and unfortunately the two vehicles that were parked beside it had sustained significant damage as well, I knew something was probably wrong.”

Not only is the damage to his vehicle frustrating, so is the lack of communication. Kersey says no one contacted him Thursday night or Friday morning to let him know his 2013 Hyundai Elantra had been damaged in a collision.

“I didn’t hear from the investigating police officer until, it would have been over 24 hours since it had happened to tell me that my car was in an accident and had been towed,” he said. “Frankly it is appalling that all of this information was readily available and no one had contacted me whatsoever.”

He says he only learned about the dashcam video while speaking to someone who works for his apartment building’s property management company. He asked them to send it to him so he could see the collision for himself.

“I was able to see exactly what had happened and yeah, it was a mess,” he said.

Kersey went to the impound lot to check out his vehicle, which appears to be totalled, though he’s waiting on the final word from his insurance company. He also saw the white Ford Escape in the lot, which was also badly damaged.

While annoyed by the inconvenience and lack of communication, Kersey says he’s grateful no one was injured – and that it was caught on a neighbour’s dashcam.

“Definitely not great travelling at that speed again in a building like this where there’s lots of families and young kids, people could have been walking on the sidewalk,” he said.

“In regards to the dashcam footage, I think it’s a miracle that it was actually mostly captured on camera. I can’t imagine how much worse the situation would be if there was no footage.”

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