Ellicott City Woman Charged in Crash Into Apartment Complex

A 25-year-old woman faces a DUI charge after police say she drove her SUV into a building, displacing one family.

Sydney D. Otwell, 25, was driving a Jeep Liberty Wednesday night when it drove over a median, jumped a curb and struck an apartment building at 8886 Town and Country Blvd. in Ellicott City, according to Howard County Police Spokeswoman Elizabeth Schroen.

The Jeep crashed into a bedroom that was unoccupied at the time, Schroen said, and police were called in at about 10:07 p.m.

Sam Patel, who lives upstairs from the apartment that was damaged, that he was preparing to go to bed when the vehicle struck the building.

“I heard a big bang. I thought it was an earthquake,” he said. Patel said he and his downstairs neighbor helped Otwell out of her vehicle.

According to Schroen, a Howard County building inspector evaluated the damage and, as a result, one family was displaced.