A neighbor has recalled the dramatic moment he raced to the scene of Anne Heche’s car crash seconds after the horrific smash.
David Manpearl heard Heche’s car race down the Mar Vista street at speeds of what he believes could be as high as 90mph, before it slammed into a family home.
Manpearl’s doorbell camera captured video of Heche’s Mini Clubman racing down South Walgrove Avenue, a normally quiet road, before a loud crash could be heard seconds later as the actor lost control of her vehicle.
Manpearl’s home office looks out over his front yard on the quiet residential street which sits about five houses away from where Heche crashed.
Neighbor David Manpearl heard Anne Heche’s car race down the Mar Vista street at speeds of what he believes could be as high as 90mph before it slammed into a family home
Manpearl estimated the car to have been traveling at close to 90mph. The video ends seconds later with a loud crash
‘At about 10:50am I heard a car go speeding by and looked out my window where I saw the car going about 90 miles an hour. Within seconds I heard a loud crash at which point I ran outside in my flip flops because I knew someone was hurt and boy was I right,’ he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.
Manpearl who has lived in the family friendly neighborhood said he ran towards the intersection where the Mini had crashed into the home.
‘Before I approached the car, I saw the resident of the home standing barefoot in the debris. She was in shock and frantically asked me to help get her pets out of the house. I was able to get the leashes for her two small dogs and escorted her out of the side of her house. She had her two dogs with her and a tortoise.’
Manpearl explained how he then went to the car to help the driver who was wedged inside between the airbag and the seat.
‘I tried speaking with her a few times asking if she was ok but she wasn’t responding so I had to get closer. I was able to open the back door of the car and crawled half-way inside. This time when I asked her if she was ok, she said no.’
An earlier shot also shows Heche moments before the second accident at the wheel with a bottle of vodka with a red cap sitting in the cup holder
Actress Anne Heche has been intubated in a critical condition after crashing her Mini into a garage before speeding off and smashing it into an apartment block where it exploded
The 53-year-old suffered horrific burns during the collision and was recorded being dragged out of the mangled wreck by firefighters after it burst into flames in LA around 11am
Manpearl asked Heche if she could raise her hand to see if she was ok and she said no and made some grunts. That’s when the hero neighbor felt water dripping on him only to realize another neighbor was squirting a hose at the car which had now caught on fire and was quickly spreading up the walls of the house.
‘I tried to talk to her again and noticed it was getting smokey and the flames were now on my right and my left so I quickly made my way out of the car.’
The engineer made his way to the front of the house and attempted to put out the flames with another hose but realized it was useless because the whole house was ablaze.
By now nearly ten fire trucks had arrived on the scene.
‘I was positive that the driver was dead. That she had burned up. It took at least 30 minutes for the fire department to douse the flames, extract the car and pull her out of the car.’
‘I was surprised to find out that it was Anne Heche. I think I knew she had had problems in the past.’
The owner of the home, together with all her pets, tortoise included, spent the remainder of the day at Manpearl’s house where neighbors brought her food and clothes. The LAFD said her whole house is now destroyed.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the home following the crash on Friday morning
Neighbor David Manpearl took these photos of the wrecked mini. Firefighters could be seen at the home where Heche’s car ultimately came to a stop, having put out the flames
The wreck of the car could be seen having crashed into the home before it was removed by a recovery truck
Shocking images also show the burnt out wreckage of Heche’s Mini Clubman as it was towed out of a hedge across the road from a school.
An earlier shot also depicted Heche moments before the second accident at the wheel, with what appeared to be a vodka bottle sitting in the cup holder.
The actress, who dated Ellen Degeneres before they split up in the late 1990s, suffered severe burns and has been intubated but is expected to live following the horror crash.
Heche had been driving her blue Mini Clubman in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles when she careered into a garage of an apartment complex.
Locals rushed to help the stricken actress with one man demanding she get out of the car. She ignored the advice and restarted the ignition, slammed her car into reverse and sped off down the road at speed with the tires squealing as she did so.
Pictures and video showed her looking dazed at the wheel after the first crash, with a witness capturing her with a bottle with a red top on it in her car.
An interior shot shows the Mini Clubman’s airbag had blown out along with most of the decor being burnt through following the crash
Pictures and video showed her looking dazed at the wheel after the first crash, with a witness capturing her with a bottle with a red top on it in her car. It is not clear what was in the container but it looked like a vodka bottle
The horrific crash caused the car to explode into flames before Heche was dragged away by firefighters and raced to hospital in an ambulance.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it took 59 firefighters 65 minutes to put out the ‘stubborn flames’ and ‘rescue one female adult found within the vehicle.’
‘The house was tons of smoke. I think they used the crane to move the car to extract the driver. It was crazy,’ an eyewitness told NBC Los Angeles.
Aerial footage showed her with brutal scarring across her back from the fire after her top appeared to have been shredded by the heat and she writhed across the stretcher in pain.
Firefighters were able to get the flames out within about an hour, according to Fox 11 but Heche suffered severe burns in the resulting blaze and is now in intensive care.
‘If there’s somebody alive in there this is going to be a miracle’ Fox 11 reporter Stu Mandel said as he watched from a helicopter hovering above the scene.
Jawdropping pictures from the scene showed the burnt out hull of the car as it was recovered from the hedge before being towed away by the authorities.
‘We really had a multifaceted incident here,’ LAFD Capt. Erik Scott said. ‘We had a significant traffic collision, we had entrapment of a woman inside that, we had car that erupted into fire, and then we had a home that had significant fire that is red tagged. It’s at this point destroyed.’
‘Her condition prevents doctors from performing any tests to determine if she was driving under the influence of alcohol,’ TMZ reported.
Firefighters were able to get the flames out within about an hour, according to Fox 11 but Heche suffered severe burns in the resulting blaze and is now in intensive care
Heche had been driving her blue Mini Clubman in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles when she careered into a garage of an apartment complex
The horrific crash caused the car to explode into flames before Heche was dragged away by firefighters and raced to hospital in an ambulance
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