SUV smashes into 11 vehicles in Walmart parking lot on Christmas Eve

MONTICELLO, Ind. (WISH) - Several vehicles sustained heavy damage on the afternoon of Christmas Eve when a driver lost control of her vehicle in a Monticello Walmart parking lot, police said, and the crash was captured on the store’s surveillance cameras (which can be seen below).

Police were called to the seen just before 1 p.m. Saturday. Ruth Ames, 64, Monticello told police she was trying to put her Ford Explorer into park when it suddenly sped out of her parking space in reverse, slamming into a vehicle in the parking lane behind her.

She then said people in the lot were telling her she had pinned someone against a vehicle, and to shift into drive. At that point the vehicle went forward, barreling through one parking lane and into another in front of it, striking several more vehicles in the process.

At that point, a man that had jumped onto a vehicle to get out of the way of the oncoming out of control SUV was able to reach into the SUV and turn it off at the ignition. He told police the SUV’s wheels were still spinning before he shut the power off.

Ames told police everything was a blur. In all, 12 vehicles were damaged, and three people were hurt, according to police reports.

Ames suffered arm abrasions. She was not cited at the scene, according to police reports. A 20-year-old man who was in a Dodge Charger that was among the vehicles hit complained of neck pain. A 41-year-old man in a Ford pickup truck also among those hit suffered minor leg injures.