HOUSTON — A man is dead after his car careened off the street and slammed into Spring Branch-area home. A family and their pets were inside when it happened but made it out safely.
It happened at the home on Hollister Road near Emnora Lane.
The Correa family decided to tuck in early for the night. It turned out to be a good decision. On any other night, they'd be together in the living room right next to where a gaping hole now sits.
"We thought it was a car wreck and my son comes and says, ‘Dad it’s a car in the kitchen’ and I’m like, ‘Are you serious,’" said Amador Correa Jr., who lives at the home.
The car, he says, was sitting on his gas stove. But on its path, it took out a neighbor's gate, caved in portions of the garage and sent rocks flying into the backyard neighbors’ second-floor window.
The homeowner says accidents happen all the time at the intersection near his home, but he never imagined a car would be able to get over a ditch, go through a brick wall and slam into his home.
"I don’t know what to say,” Correa said. “All I know is how to fix problems. The problem is already done. There’s nothing you can do but then fix it. And that’s where we’re at."
Correa said police and fire officials arrived in minutes. The car had burst into flames, but police and fire kept the flames from spreading.
"Officers got there quickly,” said Lt. R. Willkens with the Houston Police Department. “They tried to give him medical assistance as fast as they could, and they weren’t able to do much.”
Police had already been on the way for earlier concerning calls about the 59-year-old man driving the car.
"Some neighbors had called that this individual lives close by at the time,”
Willkens said. “I don’t think they knew that it was their neighbor. He was actually knocking on several doors claiming that had keys.”
Correa is a contractor by trade, so with time, they'll rebuild. But there's some things you can't, and he'll hold them closer tonight.
"I have my wife, my kids, my two dogs with me that live here in the house,” he said. “We’re all here together so we’re still a family.”
At this point, we don’t know the identity of the driver.