Neighbors raise concern after dramatic crash caught on video

SANDY SPRINGS - Neighbors are calling for change after a car comes tearing through their Sandy Springs neighborhood, damaging multiple cars and mailboxes.

It happened off the intersection of Peachtree Dunwoody Road and Glenridge Connector early Sunday morning.

"So around 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, I was awoken by a horrific noise. I came downstairs and I opened my door, and my car was turned perpendicular in my driveway, essentially blocking me in." Tara Forrest said.

The crash happened right in front of Forrest's home. Her surveillance camera captured the whole thing.

"It seemed that someone at a very high rate of speed broke through our gate, grazed a wall, grazed my neighbor's car, hit four mailboxes, hit my car that pushed into a tree that actually uprooted that landed and blocked my next-door neighbor into their house. And then proceeded to go 50 feet down." she said.

Forrest was shocked to see the damage to her own vehicle and her street.

"To be honest with you, I was traumatized. I'm still kind of in a heightened state of fear. This is happening at my home where you would feel safe," she said.

Home surveillance video shows a car losing control, slamming into several mailboxes and ultimately a tree in the Glenridge Creek Townhomes on June 5, 2022. (Tara Forrest)

Janet Brumfield is the president of the Homeowner's Association for the Glenridge Creek Townhomes.

"They think the road continues and so people are coming through. Now this particular incident was potentially the most damaging we've had," Brumfield said.

The neighborhood has taken measures to help, including installing cameras, the gate, speed bumps, and more.

"We can only do so much as a community to protect ourselves inside the community. The big concern is the vehicular traffic." she said.

Sandy Springs police said because this is a private road and a private resident, their hands are tied as well.

"With a private property accident, we can't charge the normal rules of the road so to speak. Our charging capability is limited, so to speak, to basically DUI and reckless driving." Sgt. Matt McGinnis said.

Mailboxes are left without posts in the Glenridge Creek Townhomes after a car slammed into them on June 5, 2022. (FOX 5)

Sgt. McGinnis said in cases like these, the police department has a traffic unit that can investigate any complaints or potential problem areas.

"They can contact the Sandy Springs Police Department and we'll take every concern or request seriously. We have a dedicated traffic unit that looks into traffic complaints and they can file their traffic complaints through our website." he said.

The traffic unit will take in different factors to determine the correct course of action.

"They'll look at the volume of traffic and the speed of traffic through there. They'll look at the number of accidents, complaints that we receive, pretty much everything, they'll look at the broad picture and try to narrow down what might be the problem." Sgt. McGinnis said.

Neighbors who live in the community said they hope some action can be taken before something like this, or something worse, happens again.

"Now, I have to be very cautious with how I exit my home and enter my home and that's everyone who's living along this private road as well." Forrest said.