Fort Worth family narrowly escapes injury when pickup crashes into living room
An east Fort Worth family narrowly escaped injury after a hit-and-run driver plowed into their living room early Sunday.
“Debris is everywhere,” Graciela Marron said of the aftermath of the accident that damaged the residence of her mother, two sisters and 5-year-old niece.
Marron, who lives next door to the family in the 2600 block of Wallace Street, was asleep when one of her sisters knocked on the door around 2 a.m. to tell her about the accident. Photos show a gray Chevrolet Silverado with a crumpled hood surrounded by tree branches and broken bricks. The living room is full of sheetrock.
Marron said the Silverado smashed through the steel fence surrounding the house and uprooted a 30-year-old peach tree in the front yard before breaking through the wall.
“He must have been coming at a good speed to get that,” she said.
According to Marron, the family attended a birthday party Saturday night and didn’t get home until late. Her mother did some work around the house and then sat down on the living room sofa to relax. It was close to 2 a.m. when she went to bed. Five minutes later, Marron said, her mother heard a loud boom as the truck came barreling into the room she’d just left.
One of Marron’s sisters hurried in to see what had happened. The driver was trying to back out, but the tires were just spinning in the mud. Marron said her sister told her that the driver appeared to be really “out of it.”
The man managed to exit the truck on the passenger side. He told Marron’s sister he was sorry and ran away on foot.
Fort Worth police said the driver was already gone by the time officers arrived. The cause of the accident is still unknown, and the Traffic Investigation Unit is looking into the hit-and-run crash and trying to find the driver.
According to Marron, this isn’t the first vehicle to damage her mother’s property. Several years ago, a car crashed into the yard, breaking windows and damaging the gas meter. The family installed the steel fence after that, hoping to ward off similar accidents in the future.
Speeding is a major problem in the area, Marron said. Residents on the street don’t allow their children to play in front unsupervised because of the danger. About seven years ago, neighbors signed a petition to install speed bumps on Wallace Street, but they couldn’t get it approved by the city.
After Sunday’s accident, Marron hopes they can get a couple of speed bumps or some type of barrier or reflective tape approved.
“Maybe this will be an eye-opener,” she told the Star-Telegram.
In the meantime, Marron’s family members have moved in with her. They hope insurance will cover the damage and that the home can be repaired. Marron said she’s grateful only material things were damaged.
“I was just very thankful they were OK,” Marron said of her family.
