Too much of a high risk - cancel license for life due to medical condition

Stricken driver's car like 'a pinball' as it rips into three homes and car

Thursday, December 11, 2008
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A 47-year-old Jersey City driver who became ill and lost control of her car crashed through the living room wall of a townhouse yesterday in her Brunswick Estates complex on Merseles Street, police and witnesses said.

During the wild ride at 6:30 a.m., the woman damaged two other homes, a storage shed and another car, officials said.

No residents were injured. The driver, who authorities believed suffered an asthma attack, was in stable condition last night at the Jersey City Medical Center, officials said.

Witnesses and police said the driver shot out from her parking space in reverse, mounted a curb and smashed into the townhouse at 73 Merseles St.

The Chevy Corsica then moved forward and drove into the living room at 29 Merseles St. The car then shot off across the parking lot, hitting a shed, a third house, and a Chevy Malibu.

Elliot Gonzalez, 25, a security officer with the Hudson County Sheriff's Office, said he was just getting up to go to work when he heard a "big bang," and then saw what was happening. He said he found the driver on the floor of the car.

"She was lying on the floor shaking," said Gonzalez, who used his CPR training to help the woman. "When I found her choking on her own fluids I turned her on her side to let all that out of her mouth."

The Malibu's owner, Luis Martinez, 52, saw the accident unfold from his bedroom window. He said the Corsica was like a "pinball," ricocheting from one building to another before heading toward his car.

Miriam Davila, 39, a resident at 29 Merseles St., whose home suffered the most damage, said she was feeding her 4-month-old granddaughter in a second-floor bedroom when she heard an explosion on the first floor.

"I ran out screaming," said Davila. "I didn't know what it was."

Davila, who is now staying with neighbors, said she was lucky because she usually feeds the baby in her living room.

At 73 Merseles St., Jasmine Gonzalez said she was upstairs with her 5-year-old daughter Jayda and 10-month-old son Michael at 6:30 a.m.

Her father was in the living room watching the news when the windows next to him shattered, she said.

7 -Eyewitness News

JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- A car careened into a row of townhouses in Jersey City this morning, injuring the driver.

The car reportedly crashed into 75 Merseles Street just after 6:30 a.m, tearing a large hole in the first floor of the building.

Eyewitness News is told the driver of the car was being treated, possibly after suffering an asthma attack.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6547867