Norwood Park woman's sitting room in ruins after car smashes into house; neighbors say it was a race gone wrong
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The front of a house in Norwood Park had been left wrecked and unstable Friday night, a night after a driver lost control and slammed into the home.
But it doesn't end there.
CBS 2's Sabrina Franza spoke to the homeowner, Cheryl Kelly, who has been living in the house near Harlem and Talcott avenues for 23 years.
In the wee hours Friday morning, Kelly's former sitting room – the place where she used to play piano by the window – was left in ruins when the car crashed into her home.
"Brand new gutters," Kelly said as she broke down. "We just had the room painted."
Kelly walked us through the damage.
"All of a sudden, boom – and the whole house shook," she said.
It happened around 1 a.m. Friday.
"My son comes out and he goes, 'Mom, our house is destroyed,' and the whole front of the house is like sinking in the front," Kelly said.
Police said a 32-year-old man lost control of his BMW after another driver switched lanes and sideswiped him. Neighbors said it was a race that went wrong.
"Totally smashed!" Kelly said.
The BMW slammed right into the sitting room. A radiator was left tilting over toward the now-sloping floor with a collapsed set of venetian blinds lying on top of it, right near Kelly's upright piano.
"Sometimes I play the piano late at night," Kelly said. "Luckily, I wasn't last night."
The house is slanted now – cracked. But the family is staying put.
"We really do need speed cameras here," Kelly said. "I mean, it's speeding - motorcycles, cars racing here all the time, like at 2 or 3 in the morning - especially in the summertime."
On Kelly's block, the speed limit is 30 mph.
The driver was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, and will recover. Police gave him a citation.
The other driver fled the scene just as fast as Kelly's home was nearly destroyed.
"Disbelief," Kelly said.
Hours after the crash, cracks continued to form on the ceiling of Kelly's house while she waited for her insurance company to stop by and access the structure. It is the house where she raised her family.
