Minutes before the car crashed into her living room, a Franklin woman had been sitting on the couch, as she does every morning.
But on Monday, just before 7 a.m., Sherri Sizemore got up and went into another room. And that’s when she heard what sounded like a bomb, and found her own car inside her home.
Her son, Jason Sizemore, had borrowed her car to take his kids to the bus drop so they wouldn’t have to stand outside in the 40-degree weather.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
When he got back home and pulled into the garage, the car kept going and went into the home’s living room, fire and police officials said.
“Pretty much, when he was parking the car, instead of the brake, he hit the gas,” said Dorothy Sizemore, Jason Sizemore’s wife.
No one was injured in the crash. Both Dorothy Sizemore and Sherri Sizemore were home, and were on either side of the house. Both came out to find the vehicle in their living room, they said.
When the vehicle drove into the living room, the car scratched the metal-frame couch, bringing it to a halt, Sherri Sizemore said.
“I could have gotten killed there being on the couch,” Sherri Sizemore said. “I usually do sit there, watching TV, the news.”
The home has been deemed unsafe to live in, Franklin Fire Department spokesman Brad Epperson said. Gasoline from the car sprayed onto the carpet in the living room, in addition to the structural damage caused by running through a layer of drywall, he said.
The Sizemores planned to stay in a hotel or with friends for at least one night before they can get back into the house, Dorothy Sizemore said. On Monday, the Sizemores had not been able to go back into the home and see what needs replaced, Sherri Sizemore said.
Emergency workers with the Franklin Police Department, Franklin Fire Department and White River Township Fire Department’s structural collapse team were at the home for about two hours to remove the car and conduct safety checks of the home’s stability, Epperson said.
