A drunk driver drove his 2010 Hyundai into the front of a Staten Island home early Friday, injuring a mother and 5-year-old daughter who had been asleep inside the house.
The woman and her daughter were both injured when the Hyundai Elantra went through a stop sign on at the corner of Arthur Kill Road and Lee Ave in Tottenville and crashed into the house at 4:10 a.m. Firefighters rescued both Lisa Roman and her daughter who were trapped beneath the vehicle driven by 22-year-old Charles Tainor. Roman's other two daughters stood outside the house screaming until the car was lifted up 20 minutes after the crash.
"It woke us all up," said Dawn Montalbo, who lives near the house to the New York Daily News. "It was like a big explosion. Everything shook.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the driver, Charles Tainor, 22, was arrested and charged with vehicular assault and driving under the influence of alcohol.
The crash did considerable damage to the house, and both victims were rushed to Staten Island University Hospital in critical condition, but have since stabilized. Police have confirmed that Roman suffered bad burns to her back, fractures to her face and legs. Meanwhile her daughter's arm was burnt and suffered broken bones underneath her eye. Tainor, who lives two blocks from the crash, refused medical attention.
This incident is the second time a car has gone through the same house, the last occurring in 2002 when a truck crashed into the house and narrowly missed the sleeping owner. According to neighbors, the family had only moved in a month ago.
"This is the second or third time this has happened here," said Stephen Deppe, who lives nearby to NBC News. "I'm surprised they haven't put metal barriers up."
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