RACINE, Wis. — A family in Mount Pleasant is left picking up the pieces after a drunk driver crashed into their house Saturday while they were asleep inside.
Their early morning wake-up call came in the form of a truck barreling through their lawn and into their living room. The incident wasn’t the first of its kind for the Peltiers.
Homeowner Gail Peltier told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin that after seeing her home torn apart, she was left with a mix of fear, anger, and fatigue.
“It’s terrifying to wake up to the noise,” Gail said.
The family was quick to rush outside and dial 911.
“[We were] hoping that the place wasn’t gonna blow up because this time the smell of gas was horrendous,” husband Rick Peltier detailed.
Once police arrived, they arrested the intoxicated driver. Firefighters opened windows in the home as they waited for We Energies to shut off the gas.
What’s disturbing for the Peltiers is that Saturday’s incident wasn’t the first or even second, but the third involving a drunk driver slamming into their home on Regency Hills Drive.
They said the first incident was in 1998, and the second in 2012.
The previous two crashes left them with extensive water damage, broken windows, and displaced from their home.
When the sudden crash woke the family up Saturday, there was little question in Rick's mind about what caused the noise.
“It’s more than just a bang, it’s like two masses colliding, and I jumped out of bed and I knew," he recalled. "I knew what it was.”
Watch: Mt. Pleasant couple says drunk driver crashes into home for third time
“The most frustrating thing of all this is somebody hits our house now three times, and each time we have to basically put our lives back together,” Rick added.
The couple said they have tried taking preventative steps, like installing boulders and asking for better road signs, but believe more needs to be done on a larger scale.
Rick told Mohieldin he wants to see state legislators implement tougher drunk driving laws.
“Obviously, you’re jumpy for a while at any noise you hear,” Gail said. “It changes your perspective on everything basically because you go to bed at night and you don’t know, you just don’t know.”
The Peltiers also said that while the extent of the damage and time it’ll take to repair is still unknown, they’re thankful that no one was hurt.
Mount Pleasant police said Saturday’s crash was the driver’s first OWI offense. According to police, the incident remains under investigation.
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