A motorcycle dashcam caught a dramatic incident on Wednesday evening when a man lost control of his car and wound up driving through a building in Midtown.
The video, posted on Facebook by Khanh Cai, shows a 2017 Ford Fusion being driven along Woodward Avenue as it begins to drift. It then rides up over the curb of a QLine stop and swerves just feet away from the motorcyclist before it hits another vehicle and smashes through the front door of 5708 Woodward Ave., coming to a stop at the other side of the building.
“Unbelievable footage from last night in Detroit!” Cai wrote in the video caption, adding, “This was terrifyingly close to being much worse, but the driver somehow walked away.”
Reached by phone, Cai says he was testing his new Insta 360 X5s camera when the accident occurred around 9:30 p.m.
“I still can’t believe it happened AND what’s crazier was I didn’t get killed and no one else was hurt, thank God,” Cai tells Metro Times.
“Soon as I pulled up I couldn’t believe what just unfolded,” Cai continues. “It was hard to see clearly due to the dust, but I could see the car went thru the building and hit what looked to be structural support beams.”
Cai says he immediately called 911 and WSU Police and other first responders arrived in “seconds.”
He adds, “Kudos to them for how fast they got there!!”
According to WSU police chief Anthony Holt, the driver told authorities that he takes medication for epileptic seizures and that he experienced one while driving, which caused him to lose control of the vehicle.
Holt says the driver did not sustain any major injuries and refused medical attention. He also cleared a blood alcohol test.
The driver was ticketed for driving with a suspended license and no auto insurance, Holt says, and his license may need to be re-evaluated if he is not able to safely drive a vehicle.
“He should not have been driving,” Holt says.
“He was fortunate that nobody was waiting at the bus stop,” Holt adds. “He was fortunate that he didn’t go 15 feet further and drive into the liquor store.”
The building the driver crashed into has been under construction for years. Currently, a sushi restaurant called SushiRitas was readying to open in the space and was hoping to open in the coming months.
“This is a small setback but if this journey has taught me nothing, it’s that our community will make sure that we move powerfully forward!” owner Jay Rayford tells Metro Times. He says he remains hopeful that the project will move forward.
The building was the longtime home of Showtime Detroit clothing from 1989 to 2015, and in 2018 a Midtown business called Maya’s Indo-Pak Cuisine announced it would relocate to the space — though that project fizzled out.
Showtime Clothing reopened in Hamtramck in 2023.
Suffice it to say, this auto accident will likely delay the latest project.
You can watch the wild video on Facebook or below.
Update: This article was edited to include comments from the owner of SushiRitas.
This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 5, 2025.