Vehicle crashes into home in Suamico
A driver who authorities suspect was under the influence of drugs or alcohol drove his vehicle into a Suamico home while the homeowners were still inside on Tuesday night.
“It happened so fast I couldn’t even blink my eyes as fast as it happened,” homeowner Neil Vannieuwenhoven told reporters with FOX-11 news. “It all happened that fast, just seconds, boom, and it was there.”
A board now covers a gaping hole in Vannieuwenhoven’s home and pieces of siding still lay in his yard, the damage extensive because it was an SUV that plowed into the home while he was watching the television in another room. His wife was reportedly just a few feet away from where the SUV entered the home.
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He told reporters be doesn’t believe he would be alive today had he been sitting in that chair.
“It was very, very close,” he said.
And apparently this wasn’t the first time that something like this has happened. About three years ago another vehicle jumped the curb in the same spot, nearly hitting the home.
“I’m very upset over it. I asked the county to put a guardrail up here when the first car just about hit the house, and they said it was more of a hazard,” Vannieuwenhoven said in the article. “You have a situation where, if we had guardrail up, I still think the car would’ve ended up there based on what I know about how a guardrail works,” explained Paul Fontecchio, director of Brown County Public Works.
When asked if the incident would change the county’s mind about adding a guard rail in front of the home, Fontecchio said after looking at the pictures online and at the curve in front of the home, he still doesn’t feel that a guard rail is warranted.
“Even though the car ended up in the house, there is just no design standard in the world where you could out-guess somebody under the influence parking a car in a house,” he says in the article. “That could happen on a straightaway.”
Vannieuwenhoven is obviously still shaken by the incident and says he is just thankful he and his wife were not hurt.
According to the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, the driver was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. There is no mention in the article whether or not the driver sustained any injuries as a result of the crash.
Damage to the home is estimated at $40,000.
