http://www.wesh.com/news/10514742/detail.html
Car Crashes Into Altamonte Mall
POSTED: 6:22 am EST December 12, 2006
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- A car crashed through a second-floor entrance of Altamonte Mall on Monday night, slamming into a store kiosk and falling to the floor below.
The driver of the car was identified as Adam Kahin, 19, who suffered serious injuries in the crash and was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center, WESH 2 News reported.
Investigators said Kahin told them he was trying to kill himself.
"I thought it was an explosion. I was ready to leave. I wasn't going to stick around for it," witness Vanessa Mannina said.
Police said Kahin intentionally drove his car around some planters near the second-floor Food Court entrance and crashed through the doors, plowed down a perfume kiosk and barreled into the escalator before tumbling to the floor below. The car landed upside down.
The mall was closed at the time of the crash, but dozens of employees witnessed the accident.
"All of a sudden this car just comes plowing through the perfume kiosk and then it just hits the escalator, tumbles down and slams sideways (on the ground below)," mall employee Isaac Rivero said.
Mall officials said work crews spent the night cleaning up and the stores reopened at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Only a few signs of the crash are still visible, including tire tracks on the tile floors and plywood over the entrance's glass doors.
Kahin had to be cut out of his car, and police said he may have been targeting a mall employee, possibly a woman who worked at the perfume kiosk. She had already gone home for the night.
"The whole perfume case was shattered, and the car came in," said witness Diva Jefferson. "And the car fell down and nosedived into the escalator and then fell right down on the floor and flipped over."
The mall entrance that he drove through had planters in front of it, but other stores' entrances have protective pilings anchored in the sidewalks.
"Now that we've seen that the planters can easily be moved, it is recommended that they be replaced with more stationary and stronger devices," said Officer Kristen Keltin of the Altamonte Springs Police Department.
Court records show Kahin was ordered to have an involuntary psychiatric exam in 2002. He is being held now for psychiatric evaluation.
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