Vehicle misses turn but not home

Man gets trapped in his bathroom when SUV crashes through house

Friday, November 10, 2006

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

LENOIR -- Bobby Davis likes to sleep in. But a Thursday morning doctor's appointment forced him out of bed early, shortly before an SUV crashed through his bedroom wall at 7:30 a.m.

Davis, 73, had just walked into the master bathroom of his ranch house on Union Grove Road in Lenoir and was getting ready to lather his face in shaving cream when he heard a loud boom, he said.

Glass and thick pieces of drywall scattered onto the bathroom floor, and the couple's mattress flew across the doorway, trapping him inside the room. No one was seriously injured.

"My husband would have been in bed at 7:30," said Davis' wife, Lou, who was in the kitchen when the crash happened. "It just wasn't our time."

The driver of the 2001 Acura sport utility vehicle, 34-year-old Jason Barlow of Hudson, told authorities that he was trying to pick something up off the floor of the vehicle and veered off the right side of Union Grove Road, said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper M.K. Davis, no relation to the couple.

The road curved slightly, the trooper said, and the driver overcorrected. The SUV went down a slight hill and through Bobby and Lou Davis' front porch, living room and bedroom, he said.

Authorities from the Highway Patrol, Catawba Fire and Rescue, Caldwell County EMS, Lenoir Rescue, and Lovelady Rescue responded within minutes and quickly built makeshift support beams so the northwestern side of the house wouldn't collapse, the trooper said.

Bobby Davis said rescue crews helped him climb out the bathroom window while the house was stabilized.

The Davises finished construction on the 1,800-square- foot home, which cost $135,000 to build, in March and moved to Caldwell County from Florida in June to retire, Lou Davis said.

M.K. Davis said the SUV was totaled and guessed it would cost about $80,000 to repair the home. Barlow was charged with one misdemeanor for reckless driving, he said.

"It was car versus house," he said. "Neither one won."


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