DALLAS — It was 3 a.m., and Sarah Mazariegos thought someone had broken into her home and started shooting a gun.
"All I could hear was loud screams," Mazariegos said. "My daughter woke up. She was screaming as well. Obviously, I'm freaking out.
Mazariegos had been asleep. Her two young children were tucked in, and her brother and sister had spent the night, as well, because her husband was out of town on business.
"We heard a loud boom, and there were several," Mazariegos said. "He first hit the stop sign, then the porch, then the house, so there were several loud booms.”
A man had driven a minivan into Mazariegos' home in North Oak Cliff. The vehicle pulled up a stop sign that was sitting at the corner of 12th Street and Clinton Avenue and dragged it into the home, destroyed half of the porch, knocked over one of the home's support beams and crumbled part of the home's foundation.
“A living nightmare," Mazariegos said. "I go into the living room. It’s smoky. My brother’s on the floor waking up. When he wakes up, he starts screaming.”
She said her neighbors helped the driver get out of the vehicle before police and the ambulance arrived.
Dallas police confirmed the driver was taken to the hospital for minor injuries but could not provide information about his condition or whether or not he'd be arrested or face any charges.
This is not the first time something like this has happened on 12th Street in North Oak Cliff.
“We’ve been in this house almost seven years, and I’ve seen it happen twice," Mazariegos said.
Mayor Pro Tem Chad West, who also serves as the Dallas City Council member for District 1, shared an email with WFAA that was sent to residents following this crash.
In the letter, West states there have been 81 crashes on the stretch of 12th Street from Hampton Street to Polk, or "12th Street Corridor," from 2019 through last month. The letter lays out efforts the city has made to ease traffic issues on the roadway since 2019, but confirms there is still an issue with speeding and reckless drivers.
West's email lays out a plan for residents that includes an immediate increase in DPD patrols and enforcement in the area as well as the creation of a task force that will hold community meetings to assess the issue and get feedback for short and long term solutions.
West plans to have the task force created by next week. Anyone in the area with questions or feedback is asked to email ashley.long@dallascityhall.com until the task force is created and someone is selected to handle that correspondence.
Mazariegos said she is grateful. Her brother, who was sleeping on the couch in the front room, was thrown more than 20 feet and suffered a concussion and some bruises.
"That is definitely a miracle," she said.
While her family will physically be okay, she said fear and trauma have settled in. She no longer feels safe in her home.
"It’s been our home for seven years, and that’s really sad but I don’t think I can live there anymore," Mazariegos said.