Woman recounts ordeal after car crash leaves apartment badly damaged
BUCKEYE, Ariz. - We are learning more about a car crash on Sept. 2 that sent a suspect and a woman to the hospital, and left an apartment building damaged.
The crash happened in the area of Baseline and Miller Roads. The driver, identified in court documents as 37-year-old Keith Eric Auzenne, Jr., allegedly forced his girlfriend into the backseat of a car following an argument that escalated. The car was going at speeds of 100 miles per hour at one point during the drive.
Keith Auzenne
According to court documents, Auzenne told police he "thought about running the vehicle into a pick-up truck to end his and her life" at an intersection, but swerved at the last moment.
"The vehicle left the roadway to the right, through [a landscaped area]," read a portion of the court documents. "As the vehicle drove south through the landscape, the vehicle launched into the air after hitting a raised area, through a block wall. The vehicle traveled through the air until it struck the outdoor seating area, causing over $100,000 worth of damage."
Investigators say while at the hospital, Auzenne said he had smoked meth prior to the crash. Per court documents, Auzenne is facing a number of misdemeanor and felony accusations, including aggravated assault, endangering, kidnapping, and drug-related offenses.
Mother who lives at apartment recounts ordeal
Vanessa Fernandez
The apartment impacted by the crash was Vanessa Fernandez's home. Her three girls, ages six, seven, and 10, were making sandwiches in the kitchen when the apartment's glass sliding door was shattered, with a car nearly in their living room.
"I thought maybe my cupboards or something had fallen. It sounded like a lot of glass," said Fernandez.
Fernandez remembers the moment as chaotic, not thinking twice but just grabbing her girls.
"I was super scared," Fernandez said. "I ran across the glass with no shoes on to get my daughters out of the kitchen."
Fernandez is grateful things were not worse for her family.
"They could’ve been sitting at that table, and the sliding door did land on the table, pushed my whole table over, glass everywhere," said Fernandez. "I’m grateful my daughters are OK. I don’t know what I would’ve done."
The fire department has closed off the homes to the people who live there, because it’s too dangerous to go inside. Fernandez and her children are being put up in a hotel by the Red Cross, until they can find another apartment.