A homeowner in Crown Point is counting his lucky stars after a vehicle slammed into his house Sunday morning.
Bob Panozzo was working in his garage at the home in unincorporated Crown Point at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday when he heard a loud noise.
“I thought the house exploded,” he said.
There wasn’t an explosion, but an out-of-control car had slammed directly into his house, according to Crown Point police.
“When I went down the stairs, I heard water running, and the basement was filled with smoke,” he said. “I looked up and I saw a Tesla.”
Panozzo said that he ran outside to ask someone to call 911, then ran back into the home to try to help the individuals in the car. He said that the car came to rest on the recliner in his TV room, the very chair that he usually would be sitting in after a long day.
“Because I went to the garage, I’m still here today,” he said. “I’m very lucky to be alive.”
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Two individuals were in the vehicle, neither of whom had major injuries. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reports that the driver was arrested for DUI, and the car has been towed away from the home.
Still, Panozzo knows that it could have been a lot worse.
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“They got very lucky,” he said. “If they had ended up six inches one way they would have hit a retaining wall, and five feet the other way they would have taken out the gas line.”
The repairs to the home will likely take months, but Panozzo is determined to persevere.
“I’ve been working hard to build that home to what I want. Now I got to rebuild,” he said.
