Burglars target family displaced from Raleigh apartment after SUV crash

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Raleigh police are looking for the people who broke into a home and stole thousands of dollars worth of items — all while the family who lived there was evacuated.

Several people were put out of their homes Wednesday night after an SUV drove into an apartment building at the Lexington on the Green.

“It just sounded like a really big crash and I didn’t pay any attention to it until the fire department started banging on the door,” said Sharese Smith.
Smith lives in one of the units where the crash happened.

Police say it all started with a wreck in the nearby intersection of New Hope Road and Hollenden Drive. An SUV hit the gas instead of the brake, sending them into the bedroom of an apartment.

“You wouldn’t think something like that would happen, especially when you come outside to your backyard and there’s a jeep sitting there. It’s crazy,” Smith said.

Smith, her husband and 6-year-old child had to stay somewhere else that night until it was safe to go back the next day.

“My husband, he went in first just to make sure everything was okay before me and my daughter went in, he came out and you could see on his face something was wrong,” Smith said.

About $4,500 worth of their belongings were gone, from a television to shoes to items that are irreplaceable.

“A ring I got from my mom before she died and a necklace that my daughter bought me for my birthday,” Smith added.

The Smiths called the police but say sadly, they weren’t surprised someone would take advantage of their situation.

“It’s been a huge inconvenience. We already had to leave with the little we had on our backs and then to come back and see that almost everything is gone made it all worse,” Smith said.

Through it all, they’re still staying positive.