Speeding car slams into house
Nobody was hurt after a speeding car crashed into a house on Tuesday. Enlarge video
Car crashes into house
Police work at the scene of an accident at 13th street and Wagon Wheel Road, where a car missed the corner and hit a house. Concerned neighbors inspect the damage. Enlarge video
Les Rollins has lived in his house on the corner of 13th Street and Wagon Wheel Road for 45 years, but an incident Tuesday was a first for him.
Rollins, who was at work Tuesday morning, received a call from police around 11:15 a.m. after a 16-year-old driver missed the corner on 13th Street, barreled through his chain-link fence and slammed into the side of his west Lawrence house.
“I don’t know if the wall is broken or not,” Rollins said while taking inventory of the damage. “It’s kind of a mess inside.”
Lawrence police on the scene said the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed, but just how fast he was going is still under investigation.
Neighbors who heard the impact estimated the car had to be traveling between 60 and 80 miles per hour.
“This is by far the fastest I have ever heard a car go down our street,” said Tom Waller, who was doing yard work at his house on 13th Street. “I knew that they weren’t going to make this corner.”
Diane Frook heard the impact from inside her home.
“I saw them jump out of the car, and that was a good sign that everybody was all right,” Frook said. “They were really upset, understandably.”
Lawrence police Sgt. Matt Sarna said there were two 17-year-old passengers in the car. One received minor injuries in the crash but was not transported to the hospital.
Sarna said there appeared to be significant structural damage to the house, although Rollins did not yet have a damage estimate.
“We’ll get it fixed, I hope,” Rollins said. “Nobody’s hurt. That’s the important thing.”
Officers were also investigating reports that the driver was involved in another accident, striking a mailbox farther east on 13th Street.
Sarna said the driver was issued a citation for reckless driving and driving on a restricted license.
Comments
somedude20 2 years, 12 months ago
Oh god "Maximum Overdrive" is spreading again!! Can we please stop this car on building violence can't we all just get along?
Gadzooks!
pagan_idolator 2 years, 12 months ago
humans here......humans here....
guesswho 2 years, 12 months ago
wow. if memory serves me correctly, the houses in that area are not very close to the street.
The_Big_B 2 years, 12 months ago
The driver will receive "a citation"? How 'bout a head slap and some handcuffs?
Pywacket 2 years, 12 months ago
We can hope that the parents will handle those little details!
If one of my young drivers had pulled a stunt like that, they wouldn't have been driving again until they were out of the house, with a vehicle they bought for themselves, and on their own insurance policy.
It's lucky the moron didn't kill his friends--or someone in the house.
The_Big_B 2 years, 12 months ago
The parents will probably blame the guy for building his house there.
Ricky_Vaughn 2 years, 12 months ago
What about that poor guy's house?
LadyJ 2 years, 12 months ago
How about ordering him to spend the summer doing community service, and make hime bike or that the bus there.
Pywacket 2 years, 12 months ago
Good idea. Hope his parents are that sensible.
Pywacket 2 years, 12 months ago
Actually it does. Many studies have shown that teens (in particular) are far more likely to cause an accident if they have passengers.
That's why laws specifically targeting texting or cell phone use seem silly to me. Have stiff penalties in place for when someone causes a wreck while carelessly paying more attention to any distraction than they're paying to their driving. That distraction could be a passenger, a text message, a phone call, the ketchup they're applying to their fries, the tonails they're attempting to paint, or whatever...
Why single out texting when so many other distractions have caused wrecks over a period of (however long people have been driving) decades?
sherbert 2 years, 12 months ago
Wow, how embarrassing for that kid. Glad no one was hurt.
EarthaKitt 2 years, 12 months ago
They don't know how lucky they aaaarrreee They could have ran into that treeee Got struck by a bolt of liiiightniiing and...
I'm going to leave it at that to avoid misinterpretation.
LadyJ 2 years, 12 months ago
Expected to see a picture of a Toyota.
happypill4014 2 years, 12 months ago
LOL!! Too funny!
nut_case 2 years, 12 months ago
Wonder if this is the same guy who ran off the curve on Randall Rd a couple years ago... http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/mar... We need to ban curves, or ban teen drivers, or ... well, just ban something!!
puddleglum 2 years, 12 months ago
hey, at least the tow truck didn't come from the hutton farms area-therefore someone saved themselves 2% extr on the sales tax
parrothead8 2 years, 12 months ago
Well, that ain't a Toyota, so one excuse is out the window.
Ricky_Vaughn 2 years, 12 months ago
Nice!
scopi_guy 2 years, 12 months ago
I lived in Western Hills in the mid 70s, before it was in the city limits (had a route and a box # for an address). That area hasn't changed a whole lot since then and pretty sure the speed limit is 25. It's basically an oval of blacktop road with houses all along it, and the road is barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass eachother if needed. Definately not an area to go 40, let alone 60.
nlf78 2 years, 12 months ago
I'm glad that no one was hurt, but the driver needs to be slapped!
LadyJ 2 years, 12 months ago
Certainly hope he feels something more than embarrassment and hope his parents had more than the minimum liability with structural damage involved.
ylime3499 2 years, 12 months ago
Alright ... new house!!
tweetybird2 2 years, 12 months ago
The house is on an acre. Most of the houses in Western Hills are.
artichokeheart 2 years, 12 months ago
The_Big_B has it right! As well as whoever suggested this kid do community service over the summer - on a bicycle... The community service needs to be as far away from this kid's house as possible. In the heat of the summer on that bike, I would bet he will have plenty of time to think about what he did - worse yet what the outcome could have been.
LadyJ 2 years, 12 months ago
So, decided to watch the video, and the advertisement I had to watch was Paul Davis Restoration which showed a house that was hit by a tornado. Quite ironic, don't know if the same advertisement shows each time, but it was funny.
Silly_me 2 years, 12 months ago
I hope the Rollin's two puppies are okay. I walk by there all the time with my dog and they always run the fence "talking" to my dog..they seem to be wanting to play and they look cute. Hope they didn't get traumatized.
Pywacket 2 years, 12 months ago
I don't think people see bike riding as punishment, in general. But for this little joy rider, who apparently gets off on speed and the power of the internal combustion engine, being forced to give up driving and to ride a bike--to and from community service appointments, no less--could well be an excellent consequence for his actions.
George_Braziller 2 years, 12 months ago
Was it possibly the spawn of Jamar? In 1999 The little piece of crap stole two cars, drove one of them into the river, and then stole another one,
While he was being chased by the police he made a last ditch effort to escape. Destroyed my vehicle which was parked on the street and would have driven through the neighbor's front door if the tree he hit hadn't stopped the SUV.
The cops did stop Jamar's movement however when they chased him down and slammed on the handcuffs.
LadyJ 2 years, 12 months ago
Punishment to a teen who hasn't had his license too long. Can't take a girl cruisin on a bike.
LadyJ 2 years, 12 months ago
Wonder if those are the kids that are in the video.
kantubek 2 years, 12 months ago
I'm very familiar with this area and can say that the turn in question is only really navigable at about 25mph and down if you know what you are doing. It is very fortunate that nobody was hurt considering the speeds in question, hopefully the lesson learned by these two young people will show them the importance of driving within the posted parameters, and respect for the safety of themselves and others on or off the road.
BrianR 2 years, 12 months ago
Another Billy Joel Driving School graduate?
bearded_gnome 2 years, 12 months ago
wow, I'll say the teens are pretty d--ned lucky!
if they don't know it, then somebody in authority should sit them down and force them to watch some of those videos in which its like you're in the car, it has an accident, severe injuries, etc. I know there was one popular a week or two ago.
just force the punks to spend a few hours watching those very scarey videos!
where's Merrill with his roundabout to fix this? or at least his "speed cushions?"
chocolateplease 2 years, 12 months ago
The driver is very lucky that he didn't kill somebody, including himself.
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