"We got a cell phone call from a neighbor who said, 'Look out your window,' next thing we knew, there was a police car inside a house, right down the street from us," neighbor Steve Amos said.
And right across the street from neighbor Kim Butler's home.
"And all of a sudden we heard this 'boom, boom, boom, boom,' and when we heard it, we thought someone had run into the garage door, my garage door," Butler said.
Raleigh Police confirm Corporal Bond drove into the damaged house, after barely missing the Butler home and its gas meter. She had no idea he came so close, moments before the crash.
"It was so dark, as we were coming out to help the officer, but we were very blessed," Butler said.
Amos said the homeowner of the house was out of town when the cruiser plowed into the dining room.
"The police car also hit the mailbox structure and whacked some boxes there, he said."So we've got some community work to do, and a little work to do on the house, as you can see."
When the cruiser hit the house, it also hit the gas line. Neighbors say they heard and smelled gas escaping. Police evacuated nearby homes to avoid a potentially dangerous situation.
Neighbors say Corporal Bond talked about feeling ill before the crash. They say he took some shaky steps away from the wreck.
"Then he comes over and kind of collapsed on the ground," Butler said. "My godson had helped him out of the car and got him over, and he said he needed some water."
"He told the police officer he just passed out, he was sick," rescuer Henry Mason said. "As a matter of fact, he said he was trying to call his partner, let him know he wasn't feeling too good."
Corporal Bond has since been treated and released from the hospital. Investigators are still looking into what caused him to crash.
