Teen charged after crash into Belleville townhome

A teenager has been charged with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and reckless driving after losing control of his car and hitting a townhouse.

Dylan R. Jones, 18, hit the residence in the 1000 block of Belle Valley Drive at 3:21 a.m. Sunday, according to police reports. He was driving a 1997 Lexus LS400 at the time of the crash, which knocked multiple bricks out of the wall of the building and broke a window.

The crash startled residents from their sleep.

“I was asleep on the love seat in my living room,” said Lynn Jezik, who lives in the 12-unit building hit by the car. “I heard a loud crash, and it was one of those things where you’re sleeping and you can’t tell if you dreamed it or if it’s real.”

Jezik said her boyfriend was awake at the time of the crash and the first thing she noticed was him running toward the front door to see what happened.

When he got outside he saw the Lexus sitting, partially inside the building, rear-end first.

“The car fishtailed and the back end crashed into the building first,” Jezik said. “It left tire tracks across four yards before it hit the building. Thank goodness it didn’t hit a support beam.”

She said the resident who lives in the apartment where the car hit has an autistic son. They had to move out until repairs can be made.

“Jones was field sobriety tested at the scene, and officers did not observe enough evidence from testing to make an arrest for driving while intoxicated,” Belleville Police Department Detective Sgt. Mark Heffernan said in a written response to questions from the News-Democrat.

This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Teen charged after crash into Belleville townhome."