A Southlake family woke up early Thursday morning to discover an SUV barreled down their driveway so fast, it pushed the homeowner's truck into the garage's brick wall.
"[It was] a huge boom that was followed by our home alarm screaming," said homeowner Natalie Woods Stanyer. "We were shaken. It is a scary experience."
The driver ran off, but Southlake Police found him about an hour later in a field nearby. Toni Aoun, 35, was charged with duty on striking a structure over $200.
It was all captured on surveillance cameras. The truck was totaled and part of the garage was destroyed. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
But Woods Stanyer said it could have been much worse. "Our daughters sleep in the front of the house," she said.
And while Thursday was scary enough, Woods Stanyer said this isn't the first time someone has crashed on their property. She said there have been five incidents, with the latest in 2014, when a car flipped down their driveway and landed feet from their home. In previous incidents, drivers crashed into mailboxes or trees. But Thursday was the first time a vehicle went through part of their home.
"There's an obvious risk," said Woods Stanyer.
Their driveway marks the spot where Carroll Avenue runs into Burney Lane, making a "T" in the road. Carroll Avenue ends, but Woods Stanyer's driveway lines up with the road, and some drivers keep going straight through, and onto Woods Stanyer's property.
"We've put in the rumble strips, it's 30 miles per hour. We put in a stop sign, and we put up a street light," said Southlake Mayor Laura Hill.
Hill, councilman John Huffman, and the public works director went out to the home Friday to see the damage and take another look at the intersection.
"You really have to look at, is there something we could be doing better or smarter," said Hill.
The city is planning to do traffic studies and look at how people are using this intersection because ultimately, the family's safety is at stake.
Woods Stanyer said they are also looking into whether they should move their driveway or build some type of barrier on their property.