Crash on 8 Mile near Detroit/Southfield border splits 1979 Mustang in half

A vintage Ford Mustang split in half on Eight Mile after it was struck near the border of Detroit and Southfield on Saturday evening, witnesses said.

Police at the scene did not provide details of the incident, which happened about 7:30 p.m.  Later that evening a Southfield Police officer did say the crash was not fatal and the accident was still under investigation.  

Witnesses said a SUV hit a 1979 Ford Mustang while traveling westbound on Eight Mile.

The Mustang, which was traveling north on Evergreen and crossing near the Eight Mile intersection from Detroit to Southfield, split in half, witnesses said. One part of the car remained in the intersection and the other thrown to the median.

The crash caused a loud "boom," a witness said.

"I was sitting in the laundry mat and all I heard was 'boom,'" said Darnell Albritton, who remained at the scene Saturday.  "I turned around and all I saw were bricks and trees and this truck."

The driver of the other vehicle, a male, Albritton said, stopped and got out the vehicle after the accident. He appeared not to be injured, but his vehicle damaged a corner of a Wendy's Restaurant brick wall that separates the fast food restaurant from a Coin Laundromat parking lot. The vehicle landed on the end of the laundromat's parking lot facing the business.

The crash backed up traffic on both sides of Eight Mile for more than two hours.

EMS drove away from the scene with its lights and sirens activated. Injuries and the status of the Mustang driver were unknown. 

"He was laying face down at first and everybody kept yelling, telling him don't get up," said John Paul, a witness at the scene. "He tried to get up, but he fell on his back."