So, I went home for lunch about 21:30 and about 10 minutes after arriving, I was standing at the edge of my yard with my wife, when all hell broke loose. We live on a corner lot at a 3 way intersection. The stop sign is in our yard.
As we are standing there enjoying the calm before the coming thunderstorm, a silver Honda Pilot comes driving up the road toward the intersection going a bit too fast for our street, drifts to the opposite lane, almost striking the light pole on the other corner across from us, and accelerates as it runs the stop sign.
As it comes abreast of us, we see a man driving, sort of slumped down, and a toddler strapped in the seat behind him.
The vehicle ran the stop sign, and the speed was approximately 30 mph as it entered the intersection, and probably 35 - 40 as it crossed the road, striking the drivers side quarter panel, just in front of the bumper, of a late 80's Prelude. The Prelude was spun halfway around, the rear in the front yard of the house across the intersection, the SUV's motor revved to red-line, accelerating to about 40 as it spun the tires over the curb, through the front yard, through the front wall, through the living room, and into the kitchen.
It stopped halfway through the kitchen wall, but the tires were still spinning, the engine racing, and the smoke filling the house.
I immediately called 911, as one neighbor ran out of his house, saw me point to the hole in the wall, and ran into the house to see if the occupants of the Pilot were OK. Another neighbor ran in right behind him, and checked the house to see if people who lived there were OK.
The motor was turned off, the driver helped out of the vehicle, the 2 year old boy extracted from the back seat, and then the hiss of escaping gas was heard from the kitchen. The first one in the house ran back to his house, got a tool, and turned the gas off outside at the meter.
The other guy brought the man, and toddler out to the corner across from my house, and I was still trying to give the info to the idiot 911 operator, while directing my wife to get our kids into the truck, and sent them up the block, away from the potential danger area.
We searched the house, but did not find any sign of the occupants, so we were hoping they were not home, and weren't buried under the SUV, couch, and wall.
At that point, we all fell back to the corner across from the scene to keep a somewhat safe distance from a potential explosion, or fire since the smoke was getting thicker.
The police arrived about 15 minutes after I got off the phone with 911, and the fire department about 10 minutes after that.
Before they got there, I tried to keep the driver talking since he was obviously disoriented, and possibly injured. The toddler seemed OK, but scared. The driver had the characteristics of being under the influence, was clearly in shock, and did not seem to remember where he was. My wife finally convinced him to let her hold the child, and I got him to sit down, and not move until we could ascertain his condition.
Right after the first patrol car arrived, I went across to tel him what we knew about the home owners, and when I got back, my wife pointed to a baggy on the ground she said the driver dropped after dumping the contents. I let the officer know about that, and he told his supervisor, who had just pulled up. The supervisor walked over to it with me, picked it up, smelled it, and dropped it saying it was nothing. I told him it was evidence, and that he should look for the contents, but he dismissed my suggestion with a off hand remark about leaving it to the pro's.
By then, there were about 8 police cars, and at least 5 firetrucks on the scene.
The first officer on the scene asked for statements from my wife, and I, since we were the only people to see the whole event. I mentioned the baggy to him, and my suspicion, and he asked me why I felt it was evidence. When he found out I used to be on the job years ago, he took it seriously, went to the area the bag was found, walked around, and found several pills in the grass. Hmmm, evidence maybe?
They ended up taking the guy into custody, and fortunately, they were able to contact the drivers mother, who came to get the child. If not, my wife was going to take custody (she works for Texas CPS) until a relative could be contacted.
When the vehicle drove past me, I got the plate number, and noticed the plates were purple heart plates. It turns out the driver had just gotten back from a tour in Iraq, after being shot in battle. He was on pain medication, among others, and had, apparently, been drinking, as well. So, he was under the influence, for sure, and almost killed himself, his 2 year old brother, and could have killed the folks living in the house, had they been home at the time.
The owners got home about an hour later, and were in shock, and angry as hell. The whole neighborhood turned out, and the event was a catalyst for everyone to introduce themselves to each other. That was one of the positives to come out of the event.
A sense of community was born, and several people pledged to help the owners of the destroyed home, and to also start doing neighborhood community events to get to know each other, and watch out for each other. It was pretty cool to see, and experience.
My wife is going to price some boulders tomorrow to add to our landscaping..... ones big enough to stop a truck from hitting the house, in the event another speeding vehicle comes from the other direction, toward our house.
Well, that is about it for my drama filled lunch hour, but it ended up being about a 3 hour lunch....
As we are standing there enjoying the calm before the coming thunderstorm, a silver Honda Pilot comes driving up the road toward the intersection going a bit too fast for our street, drifts to the opposite lane, almost striking the light pole on the other corner across from us, and accelerates as it runs the stop sign.
As it comes abreast of us, we see a man driving, sort of slumped down, and a toddler strapped in the seat behind him.
The vehicle ran the stop sign, and the speed was approximately 30 mph as it entered the intersection, and probably 35 - 40 as it crossed the road, striking the drivers side quarter panel, just in front of the bumper, of a late 80's Prelude. The Prelude was spun halfway around, the rear in the front yard of the house across the intersection, the SUV's motor revved to red-line, accelerating to about 40 as it spun the tires over the curb, through the front yard, through the front wall, through the living room, and into the kitchen.
It stopped halfway through the kitchen wall, but the tires were still spinning, the engine racing, and the smoke filling the house.
I immediately called 911, as one neighbor ran out of his house, saw me point to the hole in the wall, and ran into the house to see if the occupants of the Pilot were OK. Another neighbor ran in right behind him, and checked the house to see if people who lived there were OK.
The motor was turned off, the driver helped out of the vehicle, the 2 year old boy extracted from the back seat, and then the hiss of escaping gas was heard from the kitchen. The first one in the house ran back to his house, got a tool, and turned the gas off outside at the meter.
The other guy brought the man, and toddler out to the corner across from my house, and I was still trying to give the info to the idiot 911 operator, while directing my wife to get our kids into the truck, and sent them up the block, away from the potential danger area.
We searched the house, but did not find any sign of the occupants, so we were hoping they were not home, and weren't buried under the SUV, couch, and wall.
At that point, we all fell back to the corner across from the scene to keep a somewhat safe distance from a potential explosion, or fire since the smoke was getting thicker.
The police arrived about 15 minutes after I got off the phone with 911, and the fire department about 10 minutes after that.
Before they got there, I tried to keep the driver talking since he was obviously disoriented, and possibly injured. The toddler seemed OK, but scared. The driver had the characteristics of being under the influence, was clearly in shock, and did not seem to remember where he was. My wife finally convinced him to let her hold the child, and I got him to sit down, and not move until we could ascertain his condition.
Right after the first patrol car arrived, I went across to tel him what we knew about the home owners, and when I got back, my wife pointed to a baggy on the ground she said the driver dropped after dumping the contents. I let the officer know about that, and he told his supervisor, who had just pulled up. The supervisor walked over to it with me, picked it up, smelled it, and dropped it saying it was nothing. I told him it was evidence, and that he should look for the contents, but he dismissed my suggestion with a off hand remark about leaving it to the pro's.
By then, there were about 8 police cars, and at least 5 firetrucks on the scene.
The first officer on the scene asked for statements from my wife, and I, since we were the only people to see the whole event. I mentioned the baggy to him, and my suspicion, and he asked me why I felt it was evidence. When he found out I used to be on the job years ago, he took it seriously, went to the area the bag was found, walked around, and found several pills in the grass. Hmmm, evidence maybe?
They ended up taking the guy into custody, and fortunately, they were able to contact the drivers mother, who came to get the child. If not, my wife was going to take custody (she works for Texas CPS) until a relative could be contacted.
When the vehicle drove past me, I got the plate number, and noticed the plates were purple heart plates. It turns out the driver had just gotten back from a tour in Iraq, after being shot in battle. He was on pain medication, among others, and had, apparently, been drinking, as well. So, he was under the influence, for sure, and almost killed himself, his 2 year old brother, and could have killed the folks living in the house, had they been home at the time.
The owners got home about an hour later, and were in shock, and angry as hell. The whole neighborhood turned out, and the event was a catalyst for everyone to introduce themselves to each other. That was one of the positives to come out of the event.
A sense of community was born, and several people pledged to help the owners of the destroyed home, and to also start doing neighborhood community events to get to know each other, and watch out for each other. It was pretty cool to see, and experience.
My wife is going to price some boulders tomorrow to add to our landscaping..... ones big enough to stop a truck from hitting the house, in the event another speeding vehicle comes from the other direction, toward our house.
Well, that is about it for my drama filled lunch hour, but it ended up being about a 3 hour lunch....
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oke: :dw:
