Runaway Car Damages Greenwich Yards, Patio

It wasn’t a good start to the morning for a Byram resident who left her 2014 Toyota RAV running so it would warm up on a chilly Tuesday.

It was shortly after 7 a.m. Jan. 12 when a 29-year-old resident of Gold Street started her vehicle to warm it up. And in the seconds that followed, the woman chased the vehicle as it careened out of control through the neighborhood.

“It rolled slowly backward, hit a hedge then exited the property, continuing down hill,” according to Greenwich Police spokesman Lt. Kraig Gray. The vehicle continued down Gold Street and then rolled backwards across both lanes of Byram Road.

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The driver’s door was ajar and when the vehicle struck a tree, the door was flung backwards against the front fender, Gray said. After that impact, the vehicle continued on its wayward journey striking a stone wall before mounting and coming to rest on a three-foot high stone patio at 187 Byram Rd., Gray said.

Meanwhile, the owner, who told police she left the vehicle “in neutral” was chasing after the vehicle in an attempt to stop it, Gray said.

“The Greenwich Police Department does not expect anyone to stop a moving vehicle” because of the danger of being run over, Gray added.

The unidentified owner was issued a warning ticket for failure to set the brake, according to Gray.

No one was injured and there weren’t any estimates of damage to the landscaping, patio or Toyota.