Local

‘I can’t believe he survived this’: Homeowner buried in his own living room by speeding hit-and-run driver

PARKLAND, WASH — Pierce Co. Sheriff’s deputies are searching for the hit-and-run driver of a car which slammed into a Parkland home sideways into the living room of a man. The man was buried in debris under the mangled car.

The driver was able to free himself under the collapsed ceiling of the home, and sprinted away.

“The car literally was parked in his living room,” said Cindy McDonald, the ex-wife of the man who lives in the home, and was able to walk away with minor injuries.

“I very definitely am surprised he’s alive,” she said. I mean there’s blood in there, it’s freightening. He was pinned under the car. the guy didn’t care, he ran. Just left him there.”

Neighbor Mark Fife heard the explosion and chased the driver on foot.

“The gentleman was running out of the vehicle and the vehicle was smoking inside the house,” he said. “Then I realized what happened, he came running, so I chased him.”

But Fife told investigators the driver disappeared in the rain. The injured man who was hit by the car in his home was released from the hospital to pick up clothes, only to find his home demolished.

“I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Pierce Co Sheriff’s Sgt. Darren Moss. “To think somebody was hit by that car and walked away almost unharmed is just amazing,” he said.

Moss said the car had recently been sold, and they planned to search it for traces of the driver, whom Moss said will face a long list of charges.

Cindy said if she hadn’t been running an errand at the time of the incident, she could have been under the car, too.

“I stopped to buy some cream puffs. I was on my way here. They’re his favorite thing. And I stopped to get some, otherwise I would’ve been there with him when it happened. I can’t believe they could just leave him.’'

Anyone who recognizes the car or knows the identity of the driver is asked to call the Pierce Co. Sheriff’s Office or 911.