By
Shana Heiser
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Vehicle hits another car before veering off road into front bedroom of house
A car smashed a hole into the house of four UA students yesterday afternoon.
No one was inside the house, but resident Emily Severson can no longer sleep in her room, and water is shut off to the entire house at 1544 E. Mabel St.
The vehicle that hit the house was going southbound on Cherry Avenue when another car failed to yield right-of-way at the stop sign, said University of Arizona Police Department Sgt. Robert Sommerfeld.
"They collided, and the (car) jumped the curb, came through the front yard and ran through the front bedroom," he said.
No one was injured.
The driver that failed to yield, Abe Chanin, was issued a citation for failing to yield at a stop sign, said UAPD Officer Chris Olson.
However, Chanin's take on the collision differs from that of the UAPD officers.
"I was stopped at the sign, and I pulled out," Chanin said. "She was barreling like hell and whapped me. I had control of the car, and I pulled it over and stopped."
The woman whose car went through the house's front wall declined to comment.
When resident Stacy Kirsch, a media arts senior, came home to find a large hole in Severson's, a journalism senior, room, she was in disbelief.
"I was shocked to see that there's a large hole in the side of my house," Kirsch said. "I was shocked to see that a car had driven through my house, and I was a little angry that Emily won't be able to be in her room. I (also) thought it was rather comical."
Resident Danielle Laversin, a management information systems and accounting senior, was walking home when she heard it happen.
"I saw the car come up the curb," she said.
Repairs will be made to the home within 48 hours so Severson can return to her room, said Lee Ray Hanly, city of Tucson housing and safety inspector.
"I'm going to have the front wall boarded up (tonight)," he said. "They're going to bolt plywood so people can't get in and out of the building, to alleviate any physical hazards."
None of the other rooms in the house were damaged.
