Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WEST POINT -- When a truck crashed through a their bedroom Wednesday evening, West Point residents Andrew and Lauren Brown were thrown from their bed.
The couple says this isn't the first time this has happened at their home. They say another car crashed into their house nine years ago, when their sister was living here.
We are very blessed. What could have been, you know, I don't even like to think about it.
–Andrew Brown
Andrew and Lauren now rent the home from a relative. They say they thought the first incident was a freak accident and didn't expect it to happen again.
"Today's a better day than yesterday was, a much better day," Andrew said Friday. "I'm just kind of taking it day by day."
Andrew is the hospital with broken sternum, a broken rib, a fractured ankle and a hurt knee. Still, he considers himself lucky.
"We are very blessed. What could have been, you know, I don't even like to think about it," Andrew said.
He says he and Lauren were reading and watching TV in bed just after 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Outside their home on 2000 West near 500 North, a pickup truck hauling trailer tried to make a left turn and pulled into traffic. A man in a Dodge pickup slammed into the trailer, smashing it to pieces.
"It sounded like a bomb went off, is what I thought. I mean, it was so close," Andrew said. "And then we had enough time I think to look at each other."
Seconds later a Dodge Dakota was in their bedroom. The driver, trying to avoid the two-vehicle crash, swerved and crashed into the Browns' house at 40 miles an hour.
The couple remembers the impact.
"I flew from our bed through the door into our living room, and [I remember] looking up and seeing Crew in his crib just screaming," Andrew said.
"I think I sat up a little bit to turn to look to him, and then that's the last thing I remembered," Lauren said.
Lauren hit the dresser. Andrew landed in the living room -- a foot from where his 9-month-old twin boys were sleeping. It was a close call for one of the boys.
"The door that had launched out was on top of his crib," Lauren said.
Deputies arrested the driver of the Dakota, 19-year-old Cameron Scott, and the driver of the Dodge pickup, 26-year-old Dustin McLaughlin. They say the two were going 70 miles per hour and possibly racing.
"I can't imagine someone being OK with going that fast down that road," Lauren said.
The foundation on the Browns' home is damaged, and the family says the house will likely have to be demolished.
As for Andrew, his recovery process could be a long one. Doctors tell him that he will eventually need a new knee.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com.
