A close call in Mt. Airy where a man’s car ended up in his house after another vehicle ran off the road and slammed into it.
Blake Solomon lives on Dicks Hill Parkway. He says he was getting ready for bed when the accident happened around 12:30 a.m. Thursday.
“I heard an engine rev up real high on the road and I knew something was wrong,” he says.
The noise grew louder.
“I could hear it through my walls. Then, it felt like a train hit something and I knew exactly what happened. I looked at my girlfriend and told her, ‘My car just got hit.’ ”
Solomon says he heard the car go through his sunroom. He says it shattered all four ten-foot glass window panes and tore the room off its foundation.
And as if that wasn’t enough…
“I looked outside and I didn’t see my car,” Solomon says. That’s when he saw the Ford Expedition on its side with the driver still inside. “I told my girlfriend to call 911.”
Amazingly, the SUV stopped just short of Solomon’s house. The driver “crawled out of the sunroof and just stood there without a scratch on him,” Solomon says.
“…it felt like a train hit something and I knew exactly what happened.” – Blake Solomon
The impact severely damaged both vehicles and caused minor structural damage to the home, according to Georgia State Trooper Vance Henry of State Patrol Post 7 in Toccoa.
How it happened
Trooper Henry says the Expedition was traveling south on Dicks Hill Parkway when it ran off the right side of the road.
“The driver overcorrected causing the vehicle to skid crossing the northbound lane. The driver again attempted to correct his actions causing another skid, which caused the vehicle to rotate in a clockwise direction,” he says. The SUV then ran off the right shoulder of the road a second time and struck Solomon’s parked Honda Accord.
“I had to go around the house to look for my car,” the bewildered homeowner says. “He knocked it 30 to 40 feet from where it was parked.”
When Solomon found his car he saw just how big of an impact it was.
“The front end was smushed to the windshield,” he says.
The driver of the SUV is identified as 32-year-old Randy Lee Trigg of Cornelia. He was cited for tire requirements and failure to maintain lane, according to the State Patrol.
Blessing in disguise
Solomon’s mother and girlfriend were both inside the house with him at the time of wreck. He says, although his car’s totaled, it may have been a blessing in disguise. “The State Trooper said if my car wasn’t there he (the SUV) would have went straight through my house.”
Trooper Henry says there were no injuries. That includes Solomon’s pets. His cats were in the sunroom but escaped unharmed. His dog, which he usually keeps chained up outside where the wreck happened, was inside at the time and is fine.
The State Patrol has not yet released the driver’s name and has not said whether charges are pending.
The section of Dicks Hill Parkway where the wreck happened is on a straight of way. Solomon’s house sits at least 15 feet off of the road. Still, he says he was worried that something like this would one day happen.
“On a straight of way, that’s when people want to fly,” Solomon says about the traffic in front of his house.
“I wasn’t really scared,” he says. “I was just shocked that this guy just flipped over and tore my sunroom off the foundation and hit my car halfway through the yard.”
He’s not only shocked, he’s humbled.
“I just lost my car and my house is tore apart now, so, it’s very humbling. I feel worse for him than I do myself.”
The damage has not been fully assessed. Solomon says insurance will cover it. When asked if he’ll park his next vehicle in the same spot he says he’s not sure. “That’s fifty-fifty. I’ll have to roll the dice on that one.”
(photos/Blake Solomon)
