Woman 'Wouldn't Have Made It' If Car Crashed Horizontally Into Home
EDGEWATER, Colo. (CBS4) - At first it seemed like a bad dream -- car crashing into a house, but waking up would not make it go away. There really was a car in the bedroom of Tammy Sanchez at 26th Avenue and Newland Street in Edgewater.
"I was asleep and I don't know if heard a noise first or felt something hit my head. I thought I was dreaming," she told CBS4 on Sunday.
She realized it was real, a speeding car with a suspected intoxicated driver. It had crashed through the wall and stopped inches from her. Her bedroom is now littered bricks and other debris from the car.
She said she had to act quickly despite her drowsiness.
"I thought it was going to catch fire or explode. My thought was to get out so I jumped out the window."
The car had been speeding down 26th Avenue. Police say the driver lost control and fortunately hit a tree stump. Her son Michael Ortiz pointed out it could have been much worse.
"The car was sideways. If it went in straight, they said she wouldn't have made it."
If this all sounds familiar, there's good reason. Earlier this weekend a car collided with an historic house at 13th Avenue and Lafayette Street. And The Hornet restaurant on South Broadway has to keep reminding people they do not offer drive through service.
What happened in Edgewater has not only done heavy damage to the home, but it's left 25-year-old Kyle James Keegan in jail. Keegan faced a judge on Monday.
He is being held for charges of driving under the influence, reckless driving, endangerment and criminal mischief. Sanchez said God had saved her, her dogs and the driver of the car.
"I think when he sobers up he is going to realize he's messed up his whole life," she said.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.