Man Jumps Car 200 Feet Into Apartment

This is a wierd story. A man got himself a very long running start in his Honda Accord, and by the time he hit the dead end street, he was doing over 100 miles per hour. At the end of the dead end street was a dirt embankment meant to keep people from making unauthorized shortcuts between two streets. The dirt embankment was about 4 feet tall.

The man went airborn and flew his car about 200 feet, reaching a height of about 60 feet. He hit into the side of an apartment building and died on impact. But he was wearing his seatbelt, which leads me to believe that the impact with the apartment was not intentional.

From the UPI here:

The driver of a car that smashed into the second floor of a Coram, N.Y., apartment building at more than 100 mph died, but somehow injured no one else.

The Honda Accord driven by 43-year-old Vincent Pontillo Jr., had to be removed with a backhoe hours after the incident Tuesday, Newsday reported.

Police in the Long Island community said neither drugs nor alcohol seemed to be a factor in why Pontillo was driving down the one-way street at such high speed.

His car apparently struck a berm 3-5 feet high, sending it airborne over a one-story laundry building adjacent to the apartment complex, at a height of 10 to 20 feet, witnesses told police.

It struck the bathroom of Amrita Bijoor, who was asleep in her bedroom.

The woman was indeed lucky. But look at this Google Map of the apartment. To the north you can see the dead end street and the dirt ramp. If you hit it right, you would likely miss the apartment. Was this man just trying to set a distance jump? Or was this just a spectacular suicide?