Home Deemed Unsafe After Car Crashes Through Living Room

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A home in northwest Miami-Dade got an unexpected remodeling after a car slammed into it Thursday afternoon.

It happened at 8220 N.W. 172nd Street.

"I just heard a blast," said Julie Barcena, the homeowner, who was inside at the time.

The driver smashed through the front of her home, taking off the front door and window, pushing chairs, tables and lamps to the back door.

"I just saw dust and glass everywhere," Barcena said. "And when I look, and was able to focus, the lady's car was inside the house and she just looked at me and basically just waved. But all I could scream was like, 'oh my God.'

The driver wasn't hurt in the crash but was taken to the hospital, complaining of heart palpitations.

Barcena's father, William Moreiras, pointed out the neighborhood street's sharp L-curve just in front of the damaged home.

"She took the curve and apparently hit the accelerator instead of the brake, and once she hit that bump over there, she flew. The car flew into the house," he said.

The impact was so severe, code enforcement has deemed the home unsafe and Barcena and her family will have to move out.

"We just got very lucky that my grandkids, and her children, who are always out here, this very area (in the front yard), riding bikes and skating, were not here because they're in school," said neighbor Mercy Sierra. "Had this happened a week ago, this would have been tragic. We need speed bumps, we need turn-abouts in this area."

Neighbors say they've been begging Miami-Dade County commissioners for years to put in speed bumps along N.W. 172nd Street.

"They don't want to put a speed bump because of some type of ordinance," Moreiras argued. "Property, I don't care. But lives, I do. It could be my kids, my neighbors', anybody, it could be somebody walking their dog. This is ridiculous."

Ridiculous, because it's not the first time a car has slammed into the property.