Home Destroyed After Car Slams Into It At 100 MPH; 'It Was Like An Earthquake'
CHICAGO (CBS) – The images are shocking—an entire wall and floor gone—after a car crashed into a home. The teen driver died.
Three generations of a Chicago family who live there spoke with Chris Tye and Jermont Terry about the moment their home on the far South Side was torn apart.
CBS 2's Terry reports that house was in the process of being demolished late Friday.
The house where the car crashed into running from police has been demolished tonight. @TVTye talks to the family who lived here at 5pm @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/9MDpMWGg8v
— Jermont Terry (@JermontTerry) December 13, 2019
They were putting up their Christmas tree, when the car, speeding at over 100 miles per hour, lost control and came right at them.
"I just opened the door and all of a sudden heard BAM!" said Eugetta Carter.
"What the hell happened?" said Dawna Carter, who is Eugetta's daughter.
GO FUND ME: Home Destoryed In High Speed Chase
"It was like an earthquake; it shook right underneath my feet. The floor was crumbling," said Autumn Hill, who is Dawna's daughter.
On Tuesday, the car was stolen.
By Thursday it was in the family's basement with an impact that ripped the house in half.
Dawna Carter hadn't seen her home in daylight until CBS 2 showed her the video. Her daughter remembers the smell of gas and the tricky instructions to evacuate.
"Since the house shifted, all the doors were jammed," she said. 'We couldn't get out. They said get out out, gas. We said we can't."
Eugetta Carter remembers exactly what she said as the quick exit was ordered.
"Help us lord," she said. "I don't know what's going on in this house. Lord help us."
Prayers were answered, as three generations of women in the family all walked away unscathed.
But in the basement, three drivers were trapped.
"You can hear them panicking underneath the house. And it was just like a surreal feeling," said Hill.
Chicago Police News Affairs Sgt. Rocco Alioto said around 7:20 p.m. Thursday, officers tried to pull over a stolen SUV at 107th Street and Wentworth Avenue – but the driver sped off.
The driver, who lost control on a pavement dip in the 10200 block of South Wentworth Avenue., died in the crash.
Today the Red Cross has stepped in to help plan what's next. The home was being torn down Friday afternoon.
Late today, family members were allowed to pick up necessities, but, prepping for Christmas is now a trickier task than they could've ever imagined.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was also notified to determine whether a police chase was justified.
As this family tries to pick up the pieces, as of Friday night there was no additional information about the driver or the passengers hurt.