The crash happened on Sunday just before 10:45 a.m. off of La Prada Drive, sparking concerns about traffic speed along the road.
MESQUITE, Texas — A Mesquite homeowner is left picking up the pieces after a car crashed through the front of his house Sunday morning while he and his wife were at church.
Parker Broadus, a 68-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, said he was shocked by the extent of the destruction. “It didn’t look possible for that car to do all that, but it did,” Broadus said.
The crash happened around 10:45 a.m. According to police, a woman was forced off the road by another driver. Her car veered off La Prada Drive and slammed into Broadus’ home, demolishing what was once the front exterior wall of his dining room. Broadus received texts and photos of the damage from a tenant who rents a room in his home while still at church.
“She heard this big boom. I said, my God, man, what happened? That’s crazy,” Broadus told WFAA. “I saw a car sitting in my living room.”
Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, but Broadus said his tenant had a close call, adding that she was planning on running an errand and heading out the front door minutes before the crash. “If she had been standing here, she probably wouldn’t be standing, period, right now,” he said.
Investigators with the Mesquite Police Department are reviewing the driver’s accident account. No one is currently facing charges. Broadus and other neighbors told WFAA that speeding is a common issue on his street and that sometimes drivers even race each other.
“There are a lot of speed demons up and down here,” he said. “It’s a high-speed drag strip here.”
One neighbor shared photos of past damage to their property caused by a driver who lost control. They drove through a line of shrubs outside her home along the street, even knocking over a street sign. Council Member Kenny Green, who represents the area, hadn’t gotten back to WFAA before this article was published when we asked if the city has ever considered responding to residents’ concerns about the speed of traffic.
Broadus said he may now reach out to local officials about the issue.
“God’s watching over us, man. We’re breathing, and things are good,” he said. “But this is a problem.”
