SandyMaloneBroward County, FL – A woman drove a car filled with accelerants into the Broward County Sheriff’s Office’s District One substation in Pembroke Park on Monday morning.
A red Toyota Camry crashed through the windows of the sheriff’s substation, and drove right in, WPLG reported.
WTVJ’s news helicopter captured footage of firefighters breaking through that wall of windows to where the car was stopped and appeared to be smoking.
Broward County police officials said a fire erupted inside the vehicle after the woman crashed into the station.
Ben Mendez saw the woman crash her car into the police station, and then set herself on fire.
“I’m assuming she lit herself on fire,” Mendez told WPLG.
“It was a big explosion, like dynamite,” he told WTVJ. “She was totally engulfed in flames.”
He said he pulled the flaming woman out of her car, and tore off her burning dress.
“That’s when I threw her on the ground. I go ‘roll, roll on the ground!’ She wasn’t listening to me,” Mendez said.
The woman was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood as a “trauma alert.” She suffered third-degree burns in the crash, police said.
The fire alarm went off in the police station and the building was evacuated following the crash, WPLG reported.
Police are investigating what the woman’s motives were. They had not yet released the identity of the driver.