Pickup truck crashes into Long Island teen's bedroom, misses him by inches
WESTBURY, N.Y. -- A teenager and his family are thankful to be alive after a pickup truck plowed into their Long Island home in the middle of the night.
The truck slammed into the house in Westbury at around 1 a.m. Thursday and ended up in the backyard after crashing into the 13-year-old's bedroom.
"Confused and worried. I have school, but I can't go," Jayden Tirnh told CBS2's Elijah Westbrook.
Despite the damage, Nassau County Police said no one was hurt. The truck missed Jayden by just inches.
"I was asleep and then I woke up on my own. Nobody woke me up, and the wall is broken. Everybody was like walking around, talking and I was really confused. I got up ... I saw the guy who hit our house and he was like, 'Sorry, I don't know you guys,' and then he left," Jayden said.
"I was scared. I was holding him, I was crying," Jayden's mother Thu Than said. "I feel all his entire body, see if everything is OK. Because the whole closet was collapsed on the bed."
Based on the tire tracks left at the scene, it appears the truck driver made their way from Carmen Avenue then slammed into the home before stopping in the backyard.
"One feet closer and my son was gone," Than said. "I feel a lot better now. I see everything. My son, nothing wrong with him."
Police said the driver, identified as 42-year-old Blas Flores-Velasquez, fled the scene and was arrested hours after the crash. Florez-Velasquez was found hiding in a wooded area near the Wantagh Parkway, police said. He was charged with DWI, among others.
The home is now unlivable according to Nassau County's code enforcement bureau.
The family said they'll stay with another family nearby. But that's the least of their worries - they're just thankful to be OK.
"It could've been a lot worse," Jayden said. "Glad I didn't die last night."