JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A pickup truck crashed into a home in a neighborhood on Jacksonville’s Northside on Sunday.
According to the passenger, Maria Barbre, her husband was T-boned near West 30th and Almeda streets in the Grand Park neighborhood, causing the truck to fly into someone’s living room.
A woman who lives in the house says the living room is typically where she and her son spend time together. Fortunately, no one was in the room when the truck came barreling through the wall.
“I was coming out of the back door when I heard the boom actually like a boom,” homeowner Melita Lafavor said. “Luckily, everybody had just left.”
Lafavor says her house is damaged, but, fortunately, her family is OK.
“We reside in this part of the house all the time,” she said.
The pickup truck passenger also says her husband is OK after being hit and then hitting the home.
Neighbors say a car knocked down a stop sign at the intersection during a police chase on Saturday night and ended up in a woman’s lawn. Because of the absent stop sign, according to one neighbor, the truck was T-boned Sunday by another car and pushed into the home.
Neighbors say the intersection of West 30th and Almeda streets has been a problem for years -- from speeders to people who don’t stop at the stop sign.
One neighbor, who wished to remain unnamed, says a few of these crashes have ended in her grandmother’s front yard.
“My vehicle was parked in my grandmother’s yard, and someone crashed into the yard and totaled my vehicle,” she said.
Pedro Martinez, who owns a truck repair shop off Almeda Street, says his fence has been damaged by accidents at this intersection.
“You see it sunken in because people don’t stop,” Martinez said. “I need four stop signs here. You have kids, you have family, anytime, the cars are going fast.”
Now a temporary stop sign sits at the intersection, but neighbors say it’s a temporary fix to an even bigger problem.
“I would like for some kind of caution lights, speed bumps or something because people go down that street too fast,” said the anonymous neighbor.
Lafavor said: “It’s a little sign, it’s temporary, it can get knocked in the middle of the night. Anything can happen, and we’ll be back here again.”
News4JAX reached out to Jacksonville City Councilman Garrett Dennis, who represents District 9, but has not heard back. Neighbors say they have reached out to the city, as well, but received no response.