A man sitting in his living room was struck by a vehicle in Schuylkill County Tuesday morning. Normally when one thinks about a motor vehicle crash involving injuries, the last thing that most people might think is that an accident victim was sitting in the safety of his or her own living room. But, authorities say that the driver of a sport utility vehicle lost control on Route 61 around 7:35 Tuesday morning in Butler Township. The rogue vehicle slipped its way through trees before slamming through the front of a home along Fountain Street.
Emergency responders from several communities where called to the scene. Crews were worried about structural instability of the home. Firefighters rescued the driver and accident victim from the wreckage as structural technicians from Pottsville and Mahanoy City were called to the scene to stabilize the building.
Authorities say that the driver and the man who was struck while sitting in a chair each suffered injuries in the accident. The extent and nature of the injuries have not been fully reported, according to the Republican & Herald. One of the accident victims, however, was critically injured, the newspaper says.
When a driver loses control of a vehicle, anyone near the path of the vehicle can be put in danger for the risk of personal injury. Normally, we think of pedestrians, other motorists and passengers in vehicles as potential accident victims of a motor vehicle wreck. However, as the Tuesday morning Route 61 accident highlights, the power of a vehicle moving out of control of its driver can thrust the vehicle through walls, injuring a person inside under certain circumstances. The injury accident remains under investigation.