Harpreet Singh is thankful for the “miracle” that saved his family after a car ploughed into their rental house in West Richmond in Adelaide on Wednesday.
Four members of Mr Singh’s family were inside the bedroom, busy on a video call, when the stolen vehicle rammed into the edge of their bed at about 1.15 am, leaving them visibly shaken.
The 32-year-old and his wife were sleeping in another room when they woke up to a “loud bang” minutes after they had fallen asleep and rushed out to check on their guests.
“There were crumbled bricks and concrete everywhere. But somehow my brother, cousin and their partners were all safe and had miraculously escaped any injury and that’s all that mattered to me at that point,” said Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi.
“The police were already at the scene and asked us to evacuate the house because there was a serious gas leak owing to the impact of the crash. We were eight of us in the house,” he added.
While no one was injured in the crash, the rear side of the house has sustained significant structural damage.
Police had been pursuing the car in the lead-up to the crash, as the driver of the Holden Statesman failed to stop for the officers conducting a driver testing station not far away from the house.
They allege that were three people in the vehicle that was stolen from a West Lakes address last week. The car was followed at a distance by an unmarked patrol car, which saw it clip a median strip and crash heavily into the front of a house.
All three alleged offenders attempted to run but were arrested a short distance away.
The 18-year-old woman behind the wheel has been charged with illegal use, driving without due care and driving unlicensed, and the 21-year-old man has been charged with illegal use. While the third alleged offender, a 16-year-old girl remains in the hospital for minor injuries.
'Third such incident'
This is, however, not the first time that a car has crashed into the nondescript house on Marion Road.
Mr Singh said there have been two similar incidents in the past, one of which occurred a few months ago, when a car veered into their front garden, slamming through their fence.
“To be honest, when I think of the fact that this has been the third time, it leaves not just me, but also the owner of the house transfixed, because I can’t see any problem with the location of the house or its construction that can invariably put in the way of the passing vehicles,” said Mr Singh, who is just relieved that his family has miraculously survived the mishap.
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