MIAMI (WSVN) - An SUV remains lodged inside of a family’s house in Miami, Friday afternoon, after it crashed through the front entrance, Thursday night.
Miami Fire Rescue responded to the scene of the crash, located along Northwest 33rd Street and 12th Avenue, at around 9:30 p.m., Thursday.
Officials said the vehicle crashed through the fence and barely missed a traffic pole before it barreled into the front entrance of the home.
Friday afternoon, the SUV remained lodged through the front walls of the home surrounded by broken concrete.
Thankfully, the SUV missed an 80-year-old grandmother who was reading her Bible and her sleeping nephew, who were both inside of the home at the time of the crash. “We understand that the house was occupied by an 80-year-old woman and her nephew,” said Miami Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll. “They were not in the area where the car impacted. She was close to it, but she was not injured.”
The 80-year-old woman is grateful that she and her nephew were not injured. “I have a life, thank you God,” said the woman who did not want to show her face while she spoke.
The driver of the SUV was identified as an employee of Allied Universal, a security company. He remains in the hospital in serious condition, Friday afternoon.
After the crash, that very same company reportedly provided a security guard to watch over the unstable home as the family slept there overnight.
The 80-year-old woman’s daughter, Caridad Gutierrez said her mother is incredibly devoted to her religion. “At night, before we all call her to say goodnight, then she starts saying her prayers,” she said. “Most people would say, ‘You need a prayer, call her.’ You’re sick? My girlfriend can tell you, we’ve had people sick and we tell her, ‘Mom, so and so is sick.’ She says, ‘I’m gonna sit down and pray for them.'”
Gutierrez described the damage. “If you go inside, there’s an actual chunk of concrete that came through glass that if that wall that’s between this room and this room, it would have hit — the bed is right here — it angled this way,” she said as she described the damage.
“That company actually had somebody to look over the house to make sure that it was safe for the family until it can be removed,” said Carroll.
Now, officials are working to figure out what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. They said the speed limit along 12th Avenue is 35 mph.
“We understand that several people who witnessed this, saw him trying to get out of the car and acting very unusual and peculiar,” said Carroll. “Paramedics arrived and we were able to secure him down to our stretcher and we realized that there were some other issues going on with him, so we transported him to Ryder Trauma Center.”
Engineers are now working to determine whether or not part of the home will collapse when they remove the SUV. “At this time it is too dangerous to move the vehicle until we have structural inspectors come out and see whether or not by moving the car, if it’s going to cause further damage,” said Carroll.
The house was deemed unsafe to live in, and the 80-year-old woman will live with her daughter for the time being.
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