Teen Flips Car Into Garage, Police Say Alcohol May Be Factor

ROCHESTER HILLS (WWJ) - A 16-year-old was behind the wheel of a brand new Dodge Dart that plowed into a home in Rochester Hills early Saturday morning, in an accident police say may have been fueled by alcohol.

WWJ's Kathryn Larson reports the crash happened around 12:30 a.m. on North Fairview, just west of Grandview, when the teen driver was driving with four other occupants at a high rate of speed.

Oakland County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Brian Lippard described what happened next.

"He lost control, he ran off the roadway, struck a large landscaping boulder and continued until he flipped over, crashed into an attached garage of the residence. Two vehicles in the garage were damaged, the front wall of the garage was destroyed,"  said Lippard.

"After the impact, all five occupants got out. One collapsed at the rear of the vehicle while the driver collapsed two houses down," he continued.

Homeowner Carol Flynn said her garage is a total loss, but that wasn't her first thought. She's an ER Nurse and immediately went to help the wounded driver.

"My kids and I were sleeping, and it was a tremendous noise, it sounded like and explosion and the whole house moved. It felt like it was an earthquake, and so we ran outside," said Flynn, who rushed to the teen laying on her lawn.

"He had a pretty bad, what looked to me like a compound fracture of his arm. He was breathing and his heart was beating and all that, but it seemed like he had a pretty bad arm injury," she said.

Both the injured driver and a 15-year-old passenger were rushed to area hospitals and are in stable condition. The other three passengers fled the scene.

Lippard says alcohol appears to be a factor, something that doesn't surprise Flynn.

"I didn't see any in the vehicle, but the kid that I was taking care of smelled like alcohol," she said.

An investigation is ongoing.