Eleanor Ball, 62, killed, after a car, driven by Jakeilah Weeks, 24, crashes into the Sarasota home of the deceased, trapping her against a wall.
Sarasota woman killed when car crashed into her home had complained about intersection.
A Sarasota woman who was killed over the weekend when a speeding car crashed into her home, had complained to the city about the intersection near her home before.
The tragic chain of events started at around 3 a.m. Saturday when Sarasota Police got a 911 call. They say 24-year-old Jakeilah Weeks had broken into the home of her ex-boyfriend, Donta Carswell, Jr., beat him up and stole money from the home.
Carswell’s mother was the person who called 911. In recordings of the 911 call, you can hear Carswell and Weeks screaming in the background.
Sarasota Police arrived and when an officer found Weeks in her car, she sped off.
Weeks sped down the road at 70 miles an hour, hit a curb and slammed into 62-year-old Eleanor Ball's bedroom. She was found dead. Her lifeless body was pinned between the car and her kitchen wall.
“According to our officers that were on foot chasing her to keep a visual contact on her, she never attempted to stop the car, and the minute she left the curb, she stayed airborne the entire time until she went into the house, tragically resulting in the death of Eleanor Ball," said Sarasota Police Spokeswoman Genevieve Judge.
Weeks was treated at a hospital and then arrested. Hospital staff said a blood test revealed that no alcohol was in her system.
In the wake of the accident, the community is mourning the loss of a beloved figure.
"[Ball was] a very sweet person. She's very respectable. And she's not a rowdy person at all," said a neighbor.
The neighbor said Ball volunteered at her church and was loved by the members of the community for decades.
Ironically, they said Ball had complained to the city about that intersection before.
"I was shocked. Because I don't understand why [the city has not] put up a fence."
Cars have crashed into the fence in the past. City officials say the speed limit is clearly posted, and they even placed a street sign at the end of the intersection.
Judge said the last accident involving the fence was 11 years ago, and sadly this crash was a very unique incident that you can't really plan for.
"You have some factors in this traffic crash that you're normally not dealing with in other traffic crashes.
You have a residential street with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour; you have a woman who's fleeing from officer and from a felony in progress, so you have some factors that aren't in a normal traffic crash," said Judge.
A city spokesperson said if you ever do have concerns about an intersection, tell city officials, and they will send an engineer to look at it.
Weeks faces a slew of charges including burglary, battery, theft, obstruction and vehicular homicide.
She's currently being held at the Sarasota County Jail.
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