A Chevrolet Malibu rests in front of a home on Yew and Alder streets.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CENTRALIA – Two cars collided at the intersection of Yew and Mellen streets in Centralia today, a wreck that sent each one crashing into a different house.
One of the vehicles continued an entire block south before striking a home at Yew and Alder streets.
It happened when an 88-year-old man southbound on Yew Street thought he had another block to go before coming to the stop sign at Mellen Street, a main arterial, according to Centralia Police Officer Tracy Murphy. He went through the stop sign without slowing at all, Murphy said.
“But for the grace of God, nobody got really hurt,” Murphy said. “No one’s dead.”
The driver of the other car, a woman, was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital with a broken lower leg.
Her white Chevrolet Malibu took out part of a wooden porch at an unoccupied home that is part of the Alder House – a group home.
Murphy thought she may have kept going because her broken leg kept her from putting on the brakes. Another officer suggested a brake line could have been severed.
Lisa Hazlett was on her back porch talking on the telephone at about noon when she heard the crash and then saw the woman pass by, seemingly in distress.
“I could see the white car trying to stop, but she was panicking,” Hazlett said.
After checking on her and calling 911, Hazlett walked back to her residence, to find a gold Buick with its nose stuck against her house.
The man, and his passenger were unhurt, according to responders.
But the north wall of Hazlett’s house was broken, throwing pieces of sheetrock into her living room and dislodging the inside brickwork of her fireplace. Several knicknacks lay on the floor.
The large window above surprisingly didn’t even crack, she said.
Murphy said he expected the Centralia man would be getting a ticket.
A gold Buick sits snug against the north wall of Lisa Hazlett's house on Yew and Mellen streets.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter