x
Breaking News
More () »

Man arrested for damaging Hillcrest garage door, crashing into Oldham County school

An eyewitness shares her story about a reckless driver who kept a neighborhood on edge, later crashing his car into Goshen Elementary.

GOSHEN, Ky. — It all started in the quiet neighborhood of Hillcrest in Oldham County Saturday around 5 p.m., when police received a call about someone driving a Ford Fusion swerving on the roadway.

One neighbor warned the neighborhood on social media about the car swerving and later said the vehicle was at St. John’s.

"We thought okay the coast is clear lets head to the pool and we headed to the pool and then here comes the Ford Fusion down the street," Rebecca Bowen said.

Bowen and her husband said they saw Shawn Hovekamp of Taylorsville, driving the Ford Fusion and their neighbor's son was running from Hovekamp.

Hovekamp followed the kid and ended up running into their neighbor's garage door.

"The guy went through the open double garage door somehow turned around and then busted out the single garage door," Bowen said.

Hovekamp fled the home after damaging the garage door, but it wasn't over yet. Police received multiple calls of Hovekamp now stopped, on Farmview Court.

Neighbors said he put a lot of people in danger.

"He was like yelling things at the little girls which they are still scared till this day because they feel the bad man that came to their house they're scared to ride their bikes," Bowen said.

Her husband was there when police attempted to arrest Hovekamp for the first time around 6:35 p.m.

"Police show up and try to get him out of the car, he reaches back down to the grass, grabbed his keys and then gets in the car and then he flies through the grass on to Ridgemoor Drive and heads toward [U.S.] 42," Bowen said.

Police were later able to find Hovekamp at Goshen Elementary where he crashed his vehicle into the back door.

"Summers are pretty quiet around here so for something like this to happen especially on a Saturday night was definitely shocking," Lori Webb, communications director at Oldham County Schools, said.

Webb sent a letter out to parents and staff about the incident informing them about repairs to the back door.

"It could've been a lot worse obviously were very thankful it didn't happen during school," Webb said She is thankful no one was hurt and is praising Oldham County Police for their hard work.

Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.  

Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed 

Sign up for the WHAS11 newsletter: "WHAS Up Kentuckiana." Get the latest headlines and videos from around Kentuckiana delivered daily to your inbox. 

Before You Leave, Check This Out