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This is what the Salem home looks like a day after a man charged with drunk driving crashed into it Thursday night. (WDBJ7 / May 11, 2012) |
WDBJ7 spoke with the family whose home was smashed into Thursday night by a drunk driver in Salem following a police chase.
Jim Garst and his partner, Robin Key, heard the booms and knew it had to be a vehicle. They were sitting in the corner where the truck hit their home Thursday night.
"... Right about 9:45 we were watching television," homeowner Jim Garst said. "I was sitting a little futher back away from the television. It was all just coming at me like 3D."
Police say they spotted the driver, Mychal Wilkins, spinning his wheels and sliding sideways in the parking lot of Salem Memorial Stadium.
When officers tried to pull him over, Wilkins took off.
He apparently lost control and landed hit their home.
It took police a while to cut four people out of the truck.
Inside, Garst and Key were OK.
"We are extremely thankful and our prayers go out to the occupants of the vehicle," Garst said.
They have lived at the home for more than 20 years.
Cars have landed in their yard before because of the steep and curvy road above them.
Now, they're just hoping for a better guard rail system.
The driver, Mychal Wilkins is in the hospital in critical condition tonight.
He's 21 and lives in Roanoke.
Police say he'll be charged with DUI.
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We know now the name of a driver that crashed into a house while trying to flee police on Thursday night in Salem.
21-year-old Mychal Wilkins of Roanoke has been charged with driving while intoxicated. He is listed in critical condition at the hospital. The three other people in his truck also were taken to the hospital.
Around 9:45 p.m. Thursday night, a Salem police tried to pull over Wilkins as he was leaving Salem Stadium.
After about a 90-second chase, Wilkins lost control of his pickup truck, ran off the road, went over a ledge, and into a backyard of a home on Pennsylvania Avenue. The truck flipped, and then hit the house.
No one inside of the home was hurt. The truck was destroyed, and did about $10,000 in damage to the house.
Here is the news release from the Salem Police Department:
On Thursday night at approximately 9:45 p.m., a City of Salem Police Officer observed a pickup truck driver spinning the tires of his vehicle and sliding it sideways in the parking lot at Salem Stadium. The officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop of the vehicle’s driver on Texas Street in front of Salem Stadium, but despite receiving both a visual and audible signal to stop - the driver accelerated out of the lot.
A brief pursuit ensued lasting less than 90 seconds and concluded when the pickup crashed less than a mile from where the pursuit started. The gray 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup ran off the roadway, over a ledge and into the backyard of a residence on Pennsylvania Avenue where it flipped over and struck the house which was occupied at the time of the crash. The residents were not injured as a result of the crash.
The crash caused approximately $10,000 in property damage to the house and the pickup was a total loss. The officer involved in the pursuit did not observe the pickup crash into the home, and was never close enough to get a tag number. The property owner on Pennsylvania Ave. waived the officer down to inform him that the pickup had crashed in his backyard.
There were four occupants inside the vehicle who were entrapped and had to be removed by Salem Fire and Rescue. The four male subjects were transported to Roanoke Memorial Hospital and the driver was listed in critical condition.
The driver of the Dodge Ram pickup, Mychal Wilkins, age 21, from Roanoke, was charged with driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The matter is still under investigation.
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UPDATED: 11:55 p.m.
Authorities at the scene tell WDBJ7's Elizabeth Harrington that the incident started when police witnessed a grey Dodge Ram leaving Salem Memorial Stadium on Texas street.
Police tried to get the driver to pull over but instead were led on a chase that lasted about 3/4 of a mile until the truck went down a hill and crashed into a house on Walnut Street.
Four people were trapped inside and it took authorities awhile to get them out.
The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition.
The other people in the truck were not seriously injured.
The two people inside the house at the time were not hurt.
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A car crashed into a house on Walnut Street in Salem on Thursday night.
We're told the car crashed during a chase with police.
Four people were trapped.
Emergency crews rescued them.
They were taken to the hospital.
We're working to get more information and will update you as soon as we do.
