Dodge Viper hits building during Dream Cruise, injures one

Neal Rubin Alex Nester
The Detroit News
A Dodge Viper that crashed Saturday night during the Woodward Dream Cruise in Pontiac is loaded onto a tow truck to be hauled away.

Pontiac — A driver lost control of a Dodge Viper and hit a parked vehicle and building along the Woodward Dream Cruise route Saturday night, leaving a female passenger with a broken arm.

Sgt. Genefer Harvey of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department said the Viper hit a State Farm insurance office on the west side of the street on the 45000 block of Woodward.

Harvey said the business was closed when the crash occurred just before 10 p.m., and no spectators were hurt.

Conner West, 16, of Oxford was almost struck by the vehicle when it lost control. His mother, Andrea Crismon, 35, yelled at him to get up from his chair. 

“I had to run,” West said. 

This is the exterior wall of the building that was damaged when a Dodge Viper crashed into it during the Woodward Dream Cruise in Pontiac on Saturday night.

Witnesses said a male driver and a female passenger swerved off the road and hit a curb before hitting the rear of a parked vehicle. Damage could also be seen at the insurance office.

The female passenger was taken to a nearby hospital for her injury, witnesses said. The male driver was scratched but was not taken to the hospital. 

Crismon said she thought an evening rain might have played a part in the crash.

Robert Brent, 44, of Pontiac, whose parked 1984 Buick Regal was hit, had a parachute attached to the end. He was showing his car in Saturday's Dream Cruise. 

“I just want everybody to be safe,” Brent said.

Dream Cruise president Greg Rassel said he had no immediate details on the crash, but that "for the volume of vehicles, accidents are pretty minimal" during the Dream Cruise.

"The ones we do have are typically fender benders you find in a normal heavy rush hour," he said.