JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — We’re getting a closer look at the damage left behind at a Westside home after an SUV plowed into it.
It happened Sunday night at a home on Ricker Road, near the intersection of Wheat Street.
“Difficult, really,” is how Vernon Newman described his Monday morning.”All the debris, all the damage to the house.”
He was outside during the early morning hours, busy cleaning up.
“It actually more so became more of a safety hazard,” he explained.
He kept most of this debris out, but this missing wall was not helping protect against the frosty temps.
“You can feel the air just hit ya in the face cuz it is extremely cold,” he described.” That tarp is not doing anything. You can feel, even just by walking even on the carpet, the cold,” he pointed out. “It’s like walking on this grass, it is freezing.”
At around 7:30 Sunday night, an SUV plowed into the bedroom where he was sleeping and demolished a corner wall.
“I could hear the vehicle flipping, I woke up and right I heard an impact,” he recalled. “I kind of covered myself just in case it kept on coming through the wall.”
The SUV fractured the wall and ceiling and tore through the corner where Newman’s dresser used to be.
“Thank God that’s the farthest it got,” he emphasized.
Newman told Action News Jax on Sunday night that he could hear the driver take off. “They jumped out of the car and were running down the street saying ‘my brakes out my brakes out,’” he shared. “While the car was still flipping, he was almost to the corner.”
He has this message for drivers on this street: ”Be more careful,” he said. “Let’s slow down. We don’t need to speed everywhere we go.”
It’ll take time to pick up the pieces, but Newman is grateful it wasn’t worse.” All the material stuff can be replaced, can be rebuilt, I’m just glad that everybody is safe in the house,” he said.
JSO is still looking for the driver responsible.
ORIGINAL STORY: Action News Jax received pictures of an SUV that crashed into a home in the 6000 block of Ricker Road on Sunday evening.
“They jumped out the car and were running down the street saying ‘my brakes out, my brakes out.’ He was already running down the street at that time,” said the man whose home was crashed into.
“Thankful everybody is safe. Nobody got hurt. This stuff can be replaced but thank god I’m still alive.”
Action News Jax has requested the crash report. We will update you as more information becomes available.