Fired Enterprise worker crashes rental cars, tries setting some on fire, Ohio cops say
Workers at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car said they feared for their lives when a fired employee caused destruction to the Ohio business, according to police.
The Cleveland Police Department said Durchun Burks was fired in June after she stole a rental vehicle and led police in neighboring Parma on a high-speed chase. She returned to the business Sunday, July 9, and created what police called a “very chaotic” scene.
Officers reported going to the business after learning the former employee had stolen another rental vehicle and was driving around the lot. She began to ram the vehicle into other cars and tried to run over employees, according to police.
“Once Burks damaged one vehicle by crashing into another or structure, she ran out of that vehicle and drove another,” police said.
Witnesses said Brooks used a box of matches in her attempts to set fire to the gas station area, but she was unsuccessful, police said. She is accused of pouring gasoline near the gas pump area.
“(The witness) believed that Burks was attempting to blow the gas station area up or cause an explosion,” according to police.
She then got back into one of the vehicles, crashing it into building structures, a witness told police. A different witness said he ran throughout the lot and climbed over a fence to avoid being struck by Burks, police said.
When officers arrived, they found Burks had intentionally crashed vehicles into the entrance to prevent anyone from coming or going, police said. Burks was being held down by two employees before officers took her into custody.
Burks told officers she “intended to spray gasoline on the vehicle and let it burn,” also telling authorities she “came to do exactly what she did,” according to police.
Arson investigators found spilled gasoline spread out throughout the gas station area, police said.
“If Burks could have ignited the gasoline, this could have caused serious property damage other than what was already caused,” according to authorities.
It’s unclear how much property damaged Burks caused, police said. It will likely take days for the scene to be assessed.
Burks was charged with criminal trespassing, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of felonious assault, 26 counts of grand theft of motor vehicle and 28 counts of vandalism.
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