Fire department officials decide to leave a Hummer supporting a house it hit this morning in Centralia until something else can be found to hold up the wall.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – A big black Hummer missed a turn at the bottom of Seminary Hill in Centralia early this morning and wound up lodged into the side of a two-story house.
Nobody was seriously hurt but a resident inside was “jolted” and sustained minor injuries, according to police.
The vehicle knocked the house off some of its piers so the residence on the 500 block of East Maple Street was evacuated, Centralia police Sgt. Kurt Reichert said this morning.
Yellow caution tape surrounded the scene still this afternoon and the Hummer will remain there until the wall can be supported with something other than the vehicle.
“We didn’t feel like we could safely remove it,” Riverside Fire Authority Assistant Chief Rick Mack said.
Neighbor Nick Anderson said the wreck woke him up just after 5 a.m.
“By the time I got my shoes on, they were already out of the car,” Anderson said.
It’s hardly a new experience for Anderson who said over the years other drivers coming down the hill too fast have hit his porch, two of his trees and once, destroyed his dog’s house.
“Last Thanksgiving I had my truck parked there and it got totaled, the other day it was two garbage cans,” Anderson said. “It happens quite often actually.”
Reichert said the driver, Ruben Arceo-Garcia, 41, of Centralia, was given a citation for “speed too fast for conditions”.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter