---
title: "Video Shows Car Plunge 7 Stories Off Parking Garage, Narrowly Miss SUV"
description: "A close shave in Austin."
date: "2017-08-11"
modified: "2019-07-16"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/13422/video-shows-car-plunge-7-stories-off-parking-garage-narrowly-miss-suv"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "Accident"
  - "Texas"
---

# Video Shows Car Plunge 7 Stories Off Parking Garage, Narrowly Miss SUV

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/08/falling-bmw.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Authorities have released video showing the moment a BMW 4 Series plunged seven stories off the edge of a parking garage in downtown Austin, Texas earlier this summer, narrowly missing a man driving his SUV as it smashed into the alley below. Amazingly, the driver of the falling car survived, [according to the *Austin Statesman.*](<https://www.statesman.com/news/breaking-news/austin-police-release-video-car-plunging-stories-from-parking-garage/EJXRUpSXIR0Aibt9X8fLiM/>)

[The parking garage](<https://www.google.com/maps/place/508+Brazos+St,+Austin,+TX+78701/@30.2675887,-97.74222,3a,75y,96.59h,139.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIq4ef4LC_kqu7S5rE4yGeg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x8644b5082afc7831:0x3786a069ff72d65f!8m2!3d30.2671921!4d-97.7418193>) at 508 Brazos Street in downtown Austin features a cable guardrail system instead of the usual concrete walls to keep cars from flying off the edge on the back alley side. Unfortunately, the unnamed driver of the BMW was able to somehow push through the restraints—the second such incident at that garage in the last 12 months.

In the clip, shot from a [security camera](<https://securitybaron.com/camera-reviews/nest-indoor-vs-arlo-pro-2-review/>) in the alley below, we see a Chevy Tahoe completing a three-point turn and getting ready to park. All is normal until 0:30, when suddenly, the BMW plummets from the sky and lands nose down just inches from the side of the Tahoe, clipping the truck's back corner as it pirouettes and comes to rest on its roof.

https://youtube.com/embed/sRSHTA5iaPI

The understandably-shocked driver of the Tahoe immediately accelerates out of the frame, and witnesses rush in from both sides of the alley to assist the woman in the BMW. [The *Statesman* reports](<https://www.statesman.com/news/breaking-news/austin-police-release-video-car-plunging-stories-from-parking-garage/EJXRUpSXIR0Aibt9X8fLiM/>) that she was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, but it's a testament to the strength of modern vehicles and occupant restraint systems that she survived at all.

Last September, a 22-year-old man driving a Toyota 4Runner managed to flip his truck over the guard cables at the very same garage, when he accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake. Miraculously, the cables became twisted around the 4Runner's front axle and left it hanging upside down off the edge, allowing him to crawl out his sunroof to safety.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)