A Pinellas Park woman said she is grateful to be alive after a truck slammed into her home along U.S. 19, throwing her and her boyfriend across the room before the driver ran away.
Michelle Smith said she heard the impact moments before the vehicle came crashing through her living room.
“I heard the impact, got thrown,” he said. “He woke up, I said what happened, I said we just got hit.”
Smith said the two were just feet from where the vehicle barreled through. The force launched them several feet.
“They took everything,” she said. “We are in the middle of the street over there. They threw us, what is that, 12 feet?” she said.
According to Pinellas Park police, the driver immediately fled the scene, leaving behind a wrecked car and heavy damage throughout the home.
“We could hear them try to put it in reverse, try to get out, saying, ‘we got to get out of here,’” Smith recalled.
Trapped in the debris, Smith said she managed to crawl out with help from a good Samaritan who witnessed the crash and called for help.
“My family could be doing obituaries right now and picking out grave plots,” she said. “I am lucky that me and him got to walk away from this.”
Despite the destruction, Smith said she’s focusing on what she still has.
“I moved here three years ago with just a suitcase, and I was able to build this up to just this,” she said. “It was mine. I was proud of it. It’s gone now, but I will rebuild again. It’s just materialistic stuff.”
Police said the passenger in the vehicle was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Investigators are still searching for the driver.
A GoFundMe is set up to help the couple rebuild.
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Source: wfla
