‘Thought it was an earthquake’: Family wakes up to car crashing into garage

A Regina family is picking up the pieces after a car smashed into their garage and two vehicles parked in their driveway.

Arlene Garcia and her son Howard were asleep when the crash happened early Tuesday morning in the Hillsdale neighbourhood.

“I heard a really loud bang,” Howard said. “I thought it was an earthquake or something.”

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Regina Fire and Protective Services responded to the crash. The car hit a neighbouring house as well.

The driver of the car was left with minor injuries, but despite hitting two vehicles and two homes, no other injuries were reported.

“I thought it’s a gunshot,” Arlene said.

“I told my husband, ‘Can you check it? I think there’s a gunshot.’ And when he checked it, there’s a white car in here.”

Howard Garcia captured the aftermath of the crash on his phone. (Howard Garcia/ Submitted)

Howard said he and his father went out to check what happened.

“My dad and I walked out and we just see a car at the side of our garage, like smashed up,” he said. “Both our cars were smashed up.”

The family had two vehicles parked in their driveway.

RFPS responded to Lamont Cr at 3:51 am for a vehicle that struck two properties and two parked vehicles. Firefighters extricated one individual from the vehicle with minor injuries. Fortunately, no other injuries reported. #YQR pic.twitter.com/frQ5vU2HlO

— Regina Fire (@Regina_Fire) July 30, 2024

“For our blue car, it was totally damaged,” Arlene said. “They towed it away already. For the second car, there is damage also.”

The accident woke up others in the area too. Howard said their neighbours came by to help and called 911.

An investigation can determine the speed at which the driver was going, but Howard’s guess was that the vehicle was going very quickly.

“He was going really fast,” Howard said. “You can see tire marks. He went through our neighbours’ house, then he went straight into our garage. Our second car stopped his impact, so then he landed right there, basically. But when I looked at the car the handbrake was up, so he was trying to stop but he couldn’t stop fast enough, I guess.”

The car also hit Arlene Garcia’s neighbour’s house, though they weren’t home at the time. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

Arlene said she’s thankful no one was hurt, as there were bedrooms nearby.

“Lucky it’s not in our house, because all the kids are sleeping at that time,” she said.

She said her other kids were shocked by the accident.

“All the drivers should be careful,” she said.

Damage done to Arlene Garcia’s neighbour’s house. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

–with files from 980 CJME’S Gillian Massie