For the 9th time in 17 years, a vehicle crashed into the wall outside Russ Kidwell's Hurst home Thursday. It was the second one to travel all the way into his house.
"It was about 4:35 this morning, and it sounded like an explosion," Kidwell said. "I turned on the light and there was the car in the dining room."
Kidwell’s home in the 2600 block of Bent Ridge Drive backs up to six-lane Mid-Cities Boulevard at the intersection of Martin Road.
A 2002 Ford Taurus traveling east on Martin failed to stop at the Mid-Cities stop sign, crossed all six lanes of traffic with a raised median between them, then through the brick wall behind Kidwell’s yard and into his house, Hurst police said.
Though the Kidwells were sleeping in a distant part of the home, and no one inside the house was injured, the latest crash still makes the homeowner fear for his family's safety.
"What if this would have been the other end of the home where we have a master bedroom? What if we would have been having breakfast? Someone was sitting at that table two hours later," Kidwell said.
Kidwell said he has been at odds with the City of Hurst for years over the problem.
A guardrail along the east side of Mid-Cities at the Martin Road was recently installed to protect the wall and the homes behind it, Hurst spokesperson Ashleigh Johnson said.
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"It's been a major area of concern for a number of years," she said. "Our public works department analyzed the accidents, the number of accidents and where they were occurring and last July put up the guard rail to fix this thing."
Thursday's wreck completely missed the guardrail.
"If this is the result of city engineering, they need to go back to engineering 101," Kidwell said.
Now he wants the city to close the Mid-Cities Boulevard median so cars can only make a right turn from eastbound Martin road and not cross to his side.
Johnson said the city promises to extend the guardrail and study other options.
"This is something that we're taking very seriously and looking into what can we do to help prevent anything like this from happening again," she said.
The 27-year old driver survived and police took a blood sample to determine whether he was drunk.
People who identified themselves as his parents said the driver was not allowed to use the car.
Police towed it from the house Thursday afternoon and Kidwell is required once again to see that the wall is repaired.
NBC 5's Ellen Bryan contributed to this report.
