Stolen Vehicle Crashes into Shelby Township Home

A stolen vehicle crashed into the basement of a home on a residential street early Wednesday morning, setting the home ablaze.

Chief Gene Shepherd said the fire department was called to a house fire on Sandra Drive, which is off 22 Mile and Schoenherr roads.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, they began working on the blaze, which caused extensive damage to the home and first floor structural collapse.

“We’re just trying to find out what happened because there was nobody at the scene when we got there,” said Shepherd.

Nobody was inside of the home at the time of the crash, and no injuries were reported.

Police Capt. Roland Woelkers said the vehicle inside the home was stolen out of Detroit, but there are no suspects at this time.

The only thing police have gathered about the driver is that it was a young white male.

That information came from a neighbor, who said the silver vehicle was parked idling in his driveway when he returned home early Wednesday morning. The neighbor told police he honked his horn at the vehicle to move. The driver of the stolen vehicle backed out of the driveway, drove a few homes down, up the driveway and into the backyard of the home where the car crashed into the basement.

The vehicle plunged all the way into the home, police said.

“It was under suspicion because it's not every day that a car drives into a basement, especially in the backyard,” said Shepherd.

The incident is being investigated by fire marshals and police detectives.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Shelby Township Police Department at 586-731-2121, ext. 315 or Crime Stoppers at 800-Speak Up.