Sherwin Watkins of northwest Atlanta said he’s “just thankful to be alive” after waking up early Saturday to find a 5,000 pound SUV smoking in his living room.
Watkins said he and his wife, Karen, were asleep in a back bedroom of their residence at 3530 Collier Drive when the GMC Yukon came crashing into the home. They woke up to find sparks and smoke filling the house, and managed to get out through the kitchen.
The impact was so intense the SUV left the basement beneath the living room floor partially exposed.
“They had to be going extremely fast,” Sherwin Watkins told the AJC. The accident site is a short distance west of Harper-Archer Middle School.
Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. Curtis Davenport said the SUV was traveling eastbound on Collier Drive when it lost control, crossed two yards and hit another vehicle before landing inside Watkins’ home.
Watkins said the driver also took out his carport, and a wall-to-wall entertainment center is unrecognizable.
The driver, Tony Randolph, 43, couldn’t be rescued from inside the vehicle until after the fire department could shore up the house. Police, however, found him alert.
Terrence Preston, 28, a passenger in the SUV, was found injured outside the Yukon after emergency crews arrived, and he was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Watkins said the situation could have more devastating if his two adult children, who were visiting neighbors, had been at home. He said he also gets up around the time the accident occurred, about 4 a.m., but didn’t early Saturday.
“We’re just thankful to be alive,” Watkins said. “Anyone could have been walking around at that time.”
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