PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida day care center was shut down Friday after a hit-and-run driver plowed into the building Thursday night, deputies said.
That was the beginning of what became a wild ride in Putnam County. Deputies said the driver then hit a tree before rolling her car.
Witnesses said a woman emerged naked from the car and was subdued by deputies with a Taser.
The woman, identified by the Florida Highway Patrol as 44-year-old Malina Churchill, faces several charges after she is discharged from the hospital.
Stay-n-Play Day Care Center owner Becky Cox said there was a mess to clean up.
Cox said the woman didn’t stay at the scene.
Cox said she got a telephone call late Thursday from her alarm company, which said there was a burglary in progress.
“One of my employees lives very close, so she came by for me and said, ‘No, the wall’s gone,’” Cox said.
The owner said the woman who rammed her business took off.
Neighbors said that a short time later, the same woman hit a palm tree about 4 miles away and flipped her car.
Neighbor Brandi Vickers said she was driving when she saw the first part of the crash happen.
“I was coming up the road heading south and all of a sudden, I see a car in front of me fly over to that side of the road,” Vickers said.
Vickers said the woman crossed into the northbound lanes before shifting her car into reverse.
“She went down the embankment, came up, hit about here and then flew backwards in the building,” Vickers said.
Cox Media Group
