Margate divers continued to search Sunday for a missing driver after an SUV plunged into a canal Saturday night.
A Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling westbound on Royal Palm Boulevard at the 5800 block when it crashed through a resident's backyard at around 10:30 p.m., Margate Police said.
"I was just sitting inside my house and all of a sudden it sounded like an explosion went off," said resident Steve Edwards.
The car uprooted Edwards' trees and plowed through hedges before it ended up in the canal. A tow truck fished the SUV out of the water, but police have yet to find the driver.
Officials said the front windows of the Jeep were rolled down and, although the SUV was severely damaged, it was empty.
"He could've gotten out, he could've have fled from the scene, a lot of different things could have happened," Sgt. Efrain Suarez with Margate Police said. "We don't want to speculate at this point because we have no idea."
Skid marks on the grass and pavement revealed the car's path and presumably its speed when it veered off Royal Palm Boulevard.
"I would guess they had to be going 50, 60 miles an hour when they come through there," Edwards said. "Everything happened so fast, it wasn't like a bunch of different noises where I could hear them going through the yard."
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Margate Police officials said they are following up on some leads to locate the driver. Officers have already spoken to the owner of the vehicle, who couldn't say for sure who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, police said.
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