Driver Smashes Into Encino Homes During Police Pursuit

A driver being chased by California Highway Patrol officers smashed into two homes Friday morning, leaving families shaken up and their homes in ruins.

The pursuit began around 2 a.m. after the driver of a Ford SUV, who was wanted for speeding on the 101 Freeway, refused to stop. The driver led police off the freeway and onto surface streets, eventually losing control and crashing into the homes on the 17700 block of Burbank Boulevard in Encino.

“I really thought it was an earthquake. It was extremely loud,” said Pantea Nikaeen, who was sleeping in one of the houses with her mom.

The vehicle smashed through the neighbor’s home and then plowed into a bedroom in Nikaeen’s home. Thankfully, no one was sleeping in the bedroom, but the vehicle ended up just feet away from the bedroom where Nikaeen said her mother was sleeping.

Nikaeen said the commotion woke both of them up. She heard police officers shouting at the driver to stop and then saw that driver bleeding and being handcuffed. That driver was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Nikaeen’s mother was shaken but otherwise OK.

“Thank God that nobody was hurt, nobody was injured, nobody was in any of the bedrooms with the crash,” Nikaeen said.

The neighbor, meanwhile, was out of the country at the time of the crash. He spoke over the phone with NBC4 and said he would be trying to coordinate repairs to his home from abroad.