'Car was halfway through lounge': Woman just missed in home-wrecking smash
A Waikato family home has been extensively damaged after a car came crashing through its lounge, narrowly missing a woman sitting in the room.
Photos show the Te Awamutu home now without two exterior walls after a white Lexus ploughed through one corner to the next. Glass, bricks, wall plaster and other debris were left strewn across the property.
Homeowner Daniel Hopkins said his Raeburne St property is being “propped and boarded up” by builders after a car smashed into it yesterday evening.
“I was down in the garage and the car hit a kerb and I heard a revving noise.
“The car was halfway through the lounge and there was a burning smell and debris everywhere.
“My mother was in the lounge but thankfully she just got a little cut on her neck.”
He’s described his mother ‘Betty’, who narrowly avoided being hit by the car, as a “strong lady”.
“She’s okay ... she’s more upset about her 100-year-old china that was passed down from her mother.
“There was a pile of bricks by her. It’s amazing she didn’t get hit.”
The crash caused extensive damage to the exterior of the home.
A police spokesperson said they were called to reports a vehicle had crashed into a house on Raeburne St, Te Awamutu around 7.20pm.
The driver received serious injuries, while an occupant of the house had minor injuries.
Inquiries into the cause of the crash were underway.
Hopkins said the family planned to stay living at the property while insurance worked to fix the damage.
Power had been restored to the other end of the home and the kitchen remained usable.
Glass, bricks, wall plaster and other debris was strewn across the home.
He said Raeburne St was “regularly” used by kids trying to race through.
“Then they realise it’s a dead-end street and roar back up.”
Hopkins told the Herald the family would “definitely” be contacting Waipā Council to get speedbumps installed on the street.
“You know, you are constantly going over bumps everywhere else, so I think they could do with some here too.”
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