HEMET: Home left uninhabitable after car plows into it
HEMET — Officials are investigating after a driver plowed into a home and fled the scene earlier this afternoon. No one was inside the residence at the time of the hit and run crash, which happened on the 1100 block of Johnston in the area of Camino Del Sol in Hemet. A man was reportedly arrested a short distance from the scene of the accident.
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City of Hemet Police and Fire Departments along with other emergency first responders were dispatched to the home around noon, after receiving several 911 calls reporting the accident.
Area residents look on in stunned disbelief after a car crashed into a manufactured home this afternoon. Will Whelan/Hemet Valley Incidents photo
When officials arrived at the scene they found a light-colored Buick LeSabre that had crashed into a manufactured home, coming to rest completely inside the residence’s living room.
Area residents, many of whom came out of their nearby homes after hearing the tremendous crash were inside and around the home, after checking and verifying that nobody was inside the residence. Facebook community newsgroup Hemet Valley Incidents later reported from the scene that some witnesses said that after the crash a Hispanic male was seen climbing out of the home and fleeing the area on foot.
A man matching the suspect’s description was reportedly located and arrested a short distance away; however, no information was immediately available regarding the alleged suspect’s arrest.
Officers investigating the collision determined the sedan had been traveling westbound on Johnston approaching a right-hand curve when for an unknown reason the driver continued traveling straight in spite of the curve in the roadway.
The Buick crossed the oncoming lane of travel and jumped a curb – narrowly avoiding a concrete light pole and parked SUV – and smashed into the front of the home and into the home’s living room.
One neighbor, Jayma Harer-Martinez, later expressed shock after hearing about the hit and run and how thankful she was that the owner was not at home when the accident happened. She explained that the homeowner was known to sit in a chair in front of his TV right where the car smashed into and through. After the wreck, that chair could be seen smashed in front of the sedan inside the destroyed home.
The sedan was later pulled from inside the residence and towed from the scene. The home was later deemed uninhabitable and red tagged by city building inspectors.
No information about the home’s occupants was immediately available.
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Will Whelan/Hemet Valley Incidents video
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 47, recently moved to Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations, including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle and Anza Valley Outlook, as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and The Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 27 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 14 – soon to be 15 – grandchildren.
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