A Carrollton family credits a late-night movie for keeping them alive early Wednesday morning.
A pickup truck smashed through a wall of Monica Perez’s home in the 2200 block of East Peters Colony Drive and landed in the middle of a bedroom.
Up until two days ago, it was their 12-year-old disabled daughter’s room.
A cousin visiting the family from Virginia said she should have been sleeping in the room when the crash happened.
“I was like, 'Monica, I need to go to sleep.’ She’s like, ‘No, just watch this movie before we go to bed,’” said cousin Patricia Portillo.
Portillo said the movie “Mama” saved her life. Instead of sleeping, she’d been watching the horror flick in the back living room with the rest of the family when a real-life nightmare played out at the Perez house.
“We’re all suspenseful and all the sudden we hear the big boom, like, 'Crap, what’s going on?'” said Perez.
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Police said the speeding pickup truck driver had one wild ride, clipping the family’s minivan and hitting their car, which had been parked on the street, so hard it wound up on the lawn.
The truck kept barreling across the grass, finally smashing into the bedroom.
“I was freaking out ... I could have been sleeping in that bed. You saw that bed, it’s like, crushed,” said Portillo.
The bed belongs to Perez’s 12-year-old sister who uses a wheelchair.
“A couple days ago we moved my sister into the other room, so we got really lucky,” said Perez.
The driver of the pickup, identified by police as John White, wasn’t injured. Police handcuffed him and hauled him off to jail under suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Perez went to high school with White. He lives less than a mile away and is just 20-years-old.
“He shouldn’t even been drinking. If you’re going to drink, do it responsibly,” said Perez.
The family is just thankful everyone survived the terrifying close call.
“God works in mysterious ways,” said Perez.
This is the second car to hit a house on the street recently. Several neighbors, including the Perez family, told NBC 5 they’ve complained to the city about speeders and said it’s time for speed bumps.
