PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A Putnam County day care is shut down after a hit-and-run driver plowed into the building Thursday night.
That was just the beginning of what became a wild ride. Deputies say the driver then hit a tree before rolling her car.
Witnesses say she was naked when she got out of her car, before they subdued her with a Taser.
The woman, identified by the Florida Highway Patrol as 44-year-old Malina Churchill, faces a slew of charges after she gets out of the hospital.
Action News Jax obtained the police report from the incident-- it states that Churchill was covered in blood and was "growling" and looking to bite the first responders on scene. Police say she then lunged at deputies and grabbed one of their arms, attempting to pull them inside the vehicle. She was given a sedative.
Stay-n-Play Day Care Center owner Becky Cox told Action News Jax there was quite a mess to clean up.
Cox said the woman didn’t stay at the scene. The day care center was closed Friday as workers say they now have to fix the mess left behind by the hit-and-run driver.
Cox said last night, she got a call from her alarm company, which said there was a burglary in progress.
“One of my employees lives very close, so she came by for me and said, ‘No, the wall’s gone,” Cox said.
The owner said the woman who rammed her business took off.
Neighbors said a short time later, the same woman hit a palm tree about four miles up the road near 207 and flipped her car.
They also say she was naked and had to be subdued with a Taser.
Neighbor Brandi Vickers said she was driving on U.S. 17 and saw the first part of the crash happen.
“I was coming up the road heading south on 17 and all of a sudden, I see a car in front of me, fly over to that side of the road,” Vickers said.
Vickers said the woman crossed into the northbound lanes before shifting her car into reverse.
“She went down the embankment, came up, hit about here, and then flew backwards in the building,” Vickers said.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the woman had to be intubated and is currently at a local hospital.
Cox Media Group
