Woman Backs Into Liquor Store at High Speed, Injures Customer

Surveillance video released by the Muskegon Heights Police Department (which you will also find at the bottom of the page) shows a Ford Explorer smashing into a liquor store and severely injuring a customer. The woman, Samantha Lynn Baxter, was behind the wheel – and it turns out that she’s a habitual offender, MLive reports.

The incident occurred at the end of last month and Baxter is now back in custody and off the roads. She was at the wheel of her car driving erratically back and forth in the parking lot of a liquor store in Muskegon Heights. Then, she starts to back towards the store at very high speeds and doesn’t stop until she’s inside – and the poor man standing in her way injured by the vehicle.

The footage then shows the driver getting out of the car and going back in to retrieve her purse. She seems confused and starts walking about the store, as if wondering whether she should leave or linger around until the police arrive.

Muskegon Heights Police Chief Joseph E. Thomas Jr. tells the publication that she claimed she was trying to brake when she accidentally hit the acceleration. This would explain why she was reversing at such high speeds. However, she was under the influence of drugs at the time – and there is no explanation for that.

“Baxter has been charged as a four-time habitual offender with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated by drugs causing serious injury,” the report notes. The customer she hit with her car was hospitalized with severe injuries to his extremities.

Baxter has a long rap sheet and had just been released from prison when she pulled this near-fatal stunt. Her previous charges include prostitution, possession of a control substance, obstruction, escape while awaiting trial, tampering with an electronic monitoring device and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.