There is video of the red Lincoln Navigator racing down Marion Street around 2:45 p.m. Investigators allege the driver was speeding away from another accident.
Residents say the vehicle was speeding shortly before the driver lost control and smacking into a brick building at the corner of Marion and Howard.
"When the car did hit the building, it did considerable structural damage to upper floors," said Michael Lee, FDNY Battalion Chief.
It did enough damage that the building had to be evacuated.
16 residents rushed to get out of the brick building, with the facade beginning to crack, and the cracks in the brick beginning to multiply.
"It's not uncommon that you can get the front of this building coming down," Lee said.
"That's my apartment right there," said Charles Overton, a resident.
Tenants were allowed back in to quickly gather what they could carry.
But one woman couldn't grab what she wanted the most.
"I have an animal, I can't get him out, I hope he's OK," the woman said.
Her cat is still in there.
"I feel like crying. I've had this cat for almost 20 years, I don't know what to do," she said.
Police pulled the SUV out of the front of the building, and it is still standing.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that the residents who live there won't be going home.
"This is life, you take every day as it comes," Overton said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
The driver sustained minor injuries and was transported to Kings County Hospital for treatment.
