No serious injuries reported when car slams into side of Hempfield house

Richard Mahoney was watching television inside his Hempfield home Wednesday morning when he was “jolted” out of his living room chair.

The driver of a black BMW sedan apparently failed to negotiate a curve along the 300 block of Willow Crossing Road, drove through a line of hedges and grass and slammed into the brick, two-story home owned by Mahoney and his wife, Joan, about 7:40 a.m.

“I heard a loud bang. … I was just about six feet away watching television. Thank goodness no one was hurt,” said Mahoney, 68.

A still-shaken Joan Mahoney said she was upstairs getting dressed when she heard “a big bang, and the house shook.”

Richard Mahoney said he went outside to find the damaged car at the side of the home and the unidentified male driver “who just said he had a bump on his head.”

Carbon Volunteer Fire Department Chief George Reese said the car damaged some bricks on the side of the house. One lane of Willow Crossing Road was closed so responding emergency vehicles could park.

“We’re staying around until the car is pulled out of the house and until the (Peoples) gas company can come and make sure the gas lines are OK,” Reese said.

State police in Greensburg are investigating.

Joan Mahoney said the curve has been the scene of other accidents over the years.

“I won’t let my husband take out those hedges along the road for that very reason,” she said.