Colorado family describes moment DUI suspect crashed into home: "Whole house started shaking"

Debris and boarded walls are now a reminder of the night a truck barreled into Evelyn Luevano's Commerce City home.

"It was just terrible and just a nightmare," said Luevano. "I mean, it all happened so, so quickly. The lights went out. The whole house started shaking. I started seeing the ceiling coming down on us, and then just hearing screaming from [all] areas of the home.

Commerce City police say the incident happened just before midnight on Friday. After striking three cars on Interstate 270, a suspected drunk driver allegedly veered off the road and plowed into a home on East 54th Avenue.

Luevano's whole family was getting ready for bed moments before the crash.

"Me and my brother were in our rooms, my mom was taking a shower, and my dad was lying in bed," she said. "My younger sister, she wanted a late-night snack, so she was the one who was in the kitchen on the island where the main impact was."

In the moments after the crash, Luevano's family scrambled to get out.

"We knew my sister was in the kitchen, and the hallway was collapsed fully with the truck just blocking it," she said.

Luevano's father and brother broke into the windows in the front of their home to save the 11-year-old girl, who was just feet away from the car.

"[She'is in] a lot of shock, [has] a lot of trauma, a lot of nightmares, and just post-traumatic trauma," said Luevano. "She's obviously scared of the dark, not wanting to be away from us. Any loud sound just scares her terribly."

Scarred emotionally and physically from the incident, Luevano says the pain is even more frustrating knowing the driver was suspected of being under the influence.

"I truly think it's disgusting. We, we saw the individual right in front of us, no sense of remorse. He tried to leave the scene," she said. "I think that he definitely deserves all the punishment that there can be. I don't know what message it would send to the public if someone can cause such emotional damage and ache to a family and just get a slap on the wrist and roam the streets freely."

Now, the family is fundraising to try to rebuild what they've lost and is urging others to be more considerate when getting behind the wheel.

"Today it was us, but tomorrow it could be your family, and it could happen to really anyone," said Luevano.

The driver was taken to the hospital and also arrested for suspicion of DUI.