Teen crashes parent's car into home
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Slow down.
That's what the Raleigh homeowner wants people to take away from a car ending up in her home study Thursday night.
Marie Otto says cars have ended up in her yard just off Currituck Drive before but this was different.
"We were right here," Otto said, pointing at a comfortable looking couch in the back of the house. "My husband was watching the game and I had fallen asleep beside him."
She says she was jolted awake by what sounded like a loud explosion. "Very disoriented, very shocked," she said.
"I ran down the hall to get my shoes on and I didn't notice anything on my way down the hall, then on my way back I noticed the office. And there's a car, the back end. And it's smoking. And I can see outside. It was very terrifying."
"The neighbors were running from all directions to make sure we were ok," Otto continued.
Everyone was ok - including the driver of the car. Police say a 15-year-old boy had taken his father's Mercedes and was doing 90 miles an hour (the speed limit on Currituck Dr. is 30 mph) when he left the road.
Incredibly, he crossed two yards, missed huge trees, hit three cars, and did a 180 degree spin after his car was launched into the air - and walked away.
"Coming on all the way down to the house, as far back as we are, it's incredible. It is completely impossible to imagine how the trajectory sent him flying that way and it feels unsafe. It feels unsettling and unsafe."
Turns out, it's not the first time Otto has had a car in her yard. "Since I've been here, we've experienced multiple cars coming through the yard. I would love anything that would make anyone slow down around the curve."
The city has a plan but it could take years to put into effect. Nine separate speed barriers will be built on Currituck Dr. by 2017.
"We all are annoyed by them at times I think, but when you see this," Otto said, pointing at the hole in her home, "think about how that could have been a person. Thank God it was raining and there weren't that many people out. It could have been very bad."
