Family Home Hit Three Times by Drunk Drivers
The first time a driver who is under the influence of alcohol crashes into a home, it can easily be considered a freak accident. The second time it happens, it is safe to say that the homeowner is having some pretty bad luck, but what do you call it when a drunk driver crashes into the same home three times? This is what happened to a family in Thousand Oaks, California with the last of the three incidents happening just before New Year’s Eve.
The Dumais family says that every loud noise they hear has them on edge these days, with David Dumais stating that the crash occurring on October 13, 2016 was bad enough on its own. Dumais said that the driver’s vehicle left the road, scooped up both boulders on their property, and launched them through the back wall of the home. The accident that occurred in October was the second of the three home crashes the family experienced this year.
The first collision that occurred at the Dumais’s home occurred back in July when a female driver totaled her Honda by crashing into the wall of the house. While no one was injured during any of the three incidents, Dumais, who is a deputy fire chief, says the entire family was getting a bit “jittery.” When they thought there was no way it could happen again, the third crash into their home occurred on December 16 while Dumais and his wife were wrapping Christmas presents for their family.
A Subaru, which was cited as traveling at a speed of 55 mph by a witness, launched over the curb near the Dumais’s home, crashed into the plywood Dumais had installed after the last accident, and ended up inside the family pool. Pieces of the vehicle were resting at the bottom of the pool, and it needed to be drained considering the vehicle had left gas, oil, and other fluids in the water. Law enforcement officers asked the driver where she thought she was, and the driver replied another area of the state.
The Dumais’s home sits on a sharp curve of a residential street where the speed limit is 15 mph. Dumais stated that he has been attempting to get the city to install deeply anchored, solid bollards in the area – vertical posts that would prevent ramming and keep the vehicles from reaching his yard. At this point, the Dumais family is just hoping another drunk driver doesn’t make his or her way into their yard. “They’re lucky they’re alive. And we’re lucky,” Dumais said.
