In early August, Michael Harris, 28, was arrested with Cody Taylor, 24, near a car wreck that left one woman dead. The men were bruised, scratched and covered in a fine white powder that was later determined to be drywall dust. Harris, who was convicted of a DUI last June, admitted to drinking but told officers that he had not been in a crash and didn’t know where his car was.

Not far away, police were working to reconstruct an accident; a utility pole was heavily scarred from an impact, and tire marks ran across several lawns. At the end of the trail of destruction was a car-sized hole in the exterior wall of a condominium complex. A passenger car had finally stopped against the far living room wall of the structure, entirely inside the complex and not visible from the outside.

The damage to the structure left nearly 40 homes without power after the accident as police sought to establish the facts of the case. The damaged structure required reinforcement to prevent collapse before the vehicle could be removed. It was hours before investigators determined that Harris, a repeat DUI offender, had been behind the wheel when he lost control of the car. The car slewed across the lawn and slammed through an exterior wall, killing 71-year-old Bobbie Ann Lafollette in her living room.

Home incursion accidents have serious consequences

When a car or truck damages a structure in any way, there are always consequences. WALB News 10 ABC reported: “The impact destroyed the car, sending tires and debris flying…. ‘When a vehicle crashes through a home – it’s a two-story home – it created a structural stability problem,’