PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — An 89-year-old man is recovering from serious injuries at Lee Memorial Hospital after a car crashed into his Port Charlotte home. The car rammed through the house and into the kitchen and causing the refrigerator to fall on top of him.
"I just heard what I thought was an explosion. I came out. I didn’t know where it came from. It was so loud! When I came around the corner of my house I could see what I thought was smoke. It turned out to be cement dust and masonry. The air was thick with it, you couldn’t even see," says neighbor Jean Clark.
Clark was home at the time of the crash and quickly ran outside to check on her elderly neighbor.
"I could hear his voice. I could hear him inside what I thought was the garage but it turns out it was the kitchen and he was trapped under the refrigerator," says Clark.
The Florida Highway Patrol says a 60-year-old driver was heading down Easy street when they veered off the road and initially struck a parked car and a palm tree.
Neighbors banded together to lift the fridge off of the elderly man while firefighters used cinder blocks and wooden boards to secure the home because it was unstable.
Crews flew the homeowner to Lee Memorial Hospital where he is being treated for a broken ankle and other injuries. Clark says she has spoken to the family of the injured man, and he is doing okay.
"Good spirits, no complaining, upbeat attitude, just accepting it for what it was," says Clark.
The Charlotte County Sheriffs Office and the Florida Highway Patrol are still investigating the cause of the crash.
