North Babylon homeowner: ‘Airborne’ car lands on lawn

The out-of-control 2012 Volkswagen that crashed through a fence and overturned onto the front lawn of a home in North Babylon early Friday had been reported stolen, police said.

Suffolk County police did not release any additional information about where the vehicle, a Jetta, had been stolen. A suspect, who was seen on surveillance video running from the scene after the crash on Kime Avenue, has not been caught.

Homeowner Andrew Spadafora told News 12 Long Island: “The car was upside down, right where you see it. And then I went to the surveillance [video] and we saw the car airborne ... It actually went airborne, flipped over in the air and then crashed through the fence and landed. And two or three seconds later you see him [the driver] running past my front door, onto the grass and then onto Deer Park Avenue.”

“He was airborne like 20, 30 feet,” Spadafora said.

The crash occurred on Kime Avenue, just east of Deer Park Avenue and north of the Southern State Parkway, at 1:20 a.m.

Video from the scene shows police at the scene with a canine team. The house was not damaged, Spadafora said.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”