COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WTVR) -- Chesterfield police say alcohol was a factor in a car crash that took out the garage of a home in Colonial Heights over the weekend.
Police said the driver of a black sedan lost control of the vehicle off Amherst Ridge Loop around 1 p.m. Saturday. The car then plowed over a mailbox and crashed into the side of a two-story brick home's garage.
The force of the impact caused a glass pane inside a window on the opposite side of the house to crack.
The driver, Calvin Whitaker, was the only person in the car, and was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. He was later charged with a felony DUI.
No one inside the home was injured, according to police. A family of eight rents the home, and they said the four children who live there were just outside the kitchen door, which leads to the garage, when the accident happened.
Some neighbors were worried the outcome could have been much more dire.
"A couple of kids that live there were in the garage playing. They left about a minute and a half to two minutes before it happened," said Paul Carter, who is the president of the home owners association in the neighborhood where the crash occurred.
The house was condemned by the building inspector's office. However, the family was able to go inside for to collect some personal items. They spent Saturday night in a hotel room provided by the Red Cross.
The displaced family said they actually know Whitaker, who lives right across the street.
CBS 6 went to the house where the sedan involved in the crash was moved to after the initial investigation was complete. Two women at that residence said they did not know if Whitaker lived there and declined to comment about the incident.
