Teenaged driver smashes into St. George house with car bursting into Flames
Sep 30, 2021, 7:02 PM | Updated: 7:18 pm
ST. GEORGE, Utah —It would be enough to wake up even the deepest sleeper.
A car that had smashed into a house, then screeching tires to try and get out, with the driver yelling for help after it burst into flames.
It’s exactly what the father of a St. George family saw after running downstairs to see what the noise was.
“They said it was the loudest, most eerie scary sound which startled them all awake,” said Elizabeth Smith.
Smith doesn’t live in the house, but her daughter, grandchildren, and son-in-law do.
She told us about that moment when her son-in-law saw what had happened.
“He started yelling for all the kids to ‘wake up, come downstairs, get out,’” said Smith.
That’s because the car started burning after smashing into the house and the fire started spreading to the house.
“These kids were running outside in their underwear,” said Smith. “That’s all they had out the back door.”
The family made it out okay, but the driver of the car was trapped.
A neighbor heard his screams, ran over, and got him out.
“It’s kind of scary because you got this car on fire and you don’t know if it’s going to explode,” said Smith. “He’s lucky to be alive.”
The neighbor got the driver to safety.
It turns out, he is 14-years old.
According to St. George police, he had gotten drunk, stole his sister’s car, and then smashed into this house for some reason.
He is being cited for DUI and no drivers license, as well as traffic and curfew violations.
The fire did plenty of damage to the house.
The family says it’s a total loss.
“It’s crazy because they have lost almost everything that they own,” said Smith. “The little 4-year-old will all of a sudden think of a toy that she lost and will start crying. It’s really hard on this family.”
