Tallahassee police chase comes to halt above sleeping residents’ bed
Dena Coukoulis woke up Tuesday morning surrounded by the rubble of her brick bedroom walls that once protected her from the outside world.
The downtown Tallahassee resident said she remembers hearing the sound of police sirens and officers shouting, “Get out of the car!”
And within seconds, the car in question was dangling over her bed.
“It happened so fast,” Coukoulis said. “I was just sitting there — there was stuff all over me, and I was afraid I was going to get killed. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Before 3 a.m., a 15-year-old lost control of a stolen car he was driving on Park Avenue during a police chase. The car flew into the side of the home on the street, shooting right over Coukoulis’ bed where she was sleeping.
Debris flew everywhere inside the room, killing her 13-year-old dog named Teki and sending Coukoulis to the emergency room to get six stitches in her arm and three in her head. Her husband John Coukoulis said he believes the bed’s headboard acted as a barrier and possibly saved her life.
“I think I’m still in shock,” she said.
Dena Coukoulis posts a picture with her 13-year-old dog Teki, which died after a car drove into their home on Park Avenue, July 23, 2024.
Tallahassee police chase falls into sleeping resident’s lap
Just before Coukoulis’ home was left with a gaping hole, Tallahassee police officers responded to a vehicle theft and aggravated battery involving a vehicle at the Springwood Townhomes on Old Bainbridge Road.
A 15-year-old approached two adults sitting outside the apartment complex before jumping into one of their vehicles and speeding away, TPD spokesperson Heather Merritt said.
“The victim attempted to stop the suspect from leaving when the driver intentionally struck the victim with the vehicle and fled the scene,” Merritt said.
The man was taken to a local hospital to treat his non-life-threatening injuries.
A friend of a downtown Tallahassee resident, injured after a 15-year-old drove into the side of her home, holds bricks that were part of the debris, July 23, 2024.
Shortly after the teen fled the apartment complex’s parking lot, officers spotted the stolen car in the area of Adams Street and Tennessee Street and tried stopping him.
“The vehicle immediately began fleeing from officers at a high rate of speed and drove in the wrong direction on Park Avenue,” she said. “Officers began pursuing the vehicle due to the suspect committing an aggravated battery and endangering the safety of others.”
He blew through several stop signs and traffic lights before losing control of the car and flying into the Coukoulis’ downtown home on the corner of Park Avenue and Meridian Street.
The 15-year-old was arrested on felony charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, reckless driving, aggravated fleeing and eluding causing injury, hit and run causing injury and operating a motor vehicle without a valid license.
The Tallahassee Democrat doesn’t name juveniles unless they face charges in the adult criminal justice system. Merritt said he was medically cleared and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
Neighbors said the teenager was completely fine and “didn’t even have a scratch” after police pulled him out of the car.
‘This was my worst nightmare’
The Coukoulises have been renting and living in their downtown home with their three dogs – Teki, Big Al and Lovey – for the last 3½ years.
While they’ve been longtime Tallahassee residents, the house’s proximity to Cascades Park and downtown made the couple fall in love with the capital even more, she said.
Because the house sits beneath road level, downhill on the corner of the street, Coukoulis said she had thought about the possibility of somebody driving into their home before but never imagined it would actually happen.
Her husband had just gotten up from bed, with Big Al in tow, before the car crashed into the room. When he came back into the room, he couldn’t believe what he saw and let the police into their home to help get his wife out from under the debris.
Dena Coukoulis found her 1-year-old Beagle puppy named Lovey who went missing, July 23, 2024.
Everyone was accounted for except their 1-year-old Beagle puppy named Lovey who went missing amid the chaos.
Coukoulis was taken to the hospital while her husband took Teki, who suffered multiple fatal fractures, to a veterinarian and just had to trust that her beloved pet would turn back up. “This was my worst nightmare,” Coukoulis said.
Distraught and unable to go looking for her emotional support dog, Coukoulis took to Facebook and posted about the incident and that Lovey was missing.
Within a few hours, dozens of people had shared the post and got word back to her that someone had found her dog at St. John’s Episcopal Church, less than half a mile from her home.
“I can’t believe how fast she was found,” she said. “I take her collar off at night, so she didn’t even have a collar.”
Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida teen crashes stolen car into bedroom, killing dog
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