Fatal crash into house felt like an ‘earthquake’
A Christchurch couple said it felt like an ‘‘earthquake’’ when a driver crashed into their house metres from where they were sleeping early yesterday morning and died at the scene.
Details of the identity and age of the male driver killed had not been released by police by yesterday afternoon.
The car was driven into the front of the house in Ruru Rd, Bromley, about 12.10am yesterday. Paul, who did not want to give his surname, said the impact when the car hit his house was similar to the September 2010 earthquake.
‘‘We were in bed. It felt like a bloody earthquake.
‘‘The whole house shook like anything,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a bit of a shock.’’ When they got out to the street they could see the car crashed into their house and a man slumped across the steering wheel and hanging out the window.
‘‘We went out and there were people everywhere. There was a dog in the car that had been let out and was running around.
‘‘The police and the fire brigade and the ambulance were here in minutes.’’
The impact left a large hole in the front of the concrete block house and large cracks reaching up to the roofline. The interior wall of the house was also badly damaged.
The fatal crash came after several cars were smashed into in nearby Hay St early yesterday morning, with at least one car stolen.
Hay St resident Rob Thom said about six vehicles in his street had been hit by cars yesterday morning. His own car was hit and then stolen.
He found it abandoned about 100 metres up the road.
He said he was alerted to the theft when he heard ‘‘an
almighty bang’’ outside his house, metres from the scene of the fatal crash.
He arrived at the scene of the fatal crash soon after it had happened. He said there were two other vehicles that had been hit at the scene, along with the car that had been driven into the house.
‘‘It is a dodgy street. There are a lot of burglaries and a lot of thefts.’’
A police spokesperson said the car involved in the fatal crash ‘‘does not appear to have been a stolen vehicle’’.
‘‘I understand there were other parked vehicles struck before the vehicle crashed,’’ she said.
She did not say whether police considered those events were connected to the fatal crash.
The couple who own the house that was hit by the car had just completed earthquake repairs in February.
Paul thought the whole front wall of the house would have to be rebuilt to repair the extensive damage.
‘‘We were out for four months. ‘‘We just got all the insurance settled and signed off,’’ Paul said.
‘‘We were in bed. It felt like a bloody earthquake. The whole house shook like anything.’’ Paul