Truck smashes into home in Columbia

Barb Stroud had just finished mowing her lawn on West Park Drive in Columbia shortly after 5:30 p.m. Thursday when she saw her neighbor’s truck hurtling toward her house.

“I looked and I saw debris fly out into the yard,” Stroud said.

The Chevy Avalanche smashed through the outer wall of Stroud’s garage and hit her car that was parked inside.

“I feel like I cheated death,” Stroud said.

The truck entered the garage right where she parks her mower. Had she finished mowing a minute earlier, she said she would have been parking the mower when the truck came plowing through.

Stroud and her family have only lived in the house since October, and she bought the car damaged in the crash just two months ago.

No one was inside Stroud’s house. The driver of the truck—a neighbor who lives across West Park Drive from Stroud—was not seriously injured but his condition is not known. Columbia police could not be reached for comment regarding more details of the driver’s condition, what caused the crash or whether he was cited.

“I feel extremely lucky,” Stroud said. “Could have been a whole lot worse. At least it didn’t hit the main part of the house.”

According to Columbia Assistant Fire Chief Donald Sutter, two things prevented the crash from being far worse than it was.

First, Sutter said, the truck crashed through a weak part of the garage wall between two windows and not an area that’s more structurally important, like either of the garage’s corners or a different part of the home. Second, because Stroud’s car was parked in the garage, it prevented the truck from careening straight into Stroud’s living area.

Despite the heavy damage to the garage, Stroud and her family will be able to stay home.

“They’re going to board (the hole) up and we’ll be able to close the garage, we’ll be fine,” she said.

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Truck smashes into home in Columbia."