KIRKWOOD, Mo. – A Kirkwood family is forced to find somewhere else to live after a pick-up truck crashed into their home off Big Bend Road Tuesday afternoon.
The family wasn’t home at the time of the crash, but they say it’s not the first close call.
Barbara Wietecter lived in the house for 50 years. She sold it a few years ago after her husband died.
"I told the people when they bought the house and they were questioning this because they have three young children - in 50 years, two times,” she said.
Twice drivers ended up on her lawn instead of the road. And in the years since she sold it, the problem has only gotten worse.
"Since they moved in, somebody went in the wrought iron fence on the side of their house, somebody wiped out the flower garden that's beyond the oak tree there, and here we are again,” she said.
The house dates back to the 1800s, when the area was a resort accessed by trains.
"In the days of the street cars they didn't have to worry about that,” neighbor James Baker said. He’s written two history books on the neighborhood.
They're all left wondering how to fix the 21st-century danger.
"Other than making sure the speed limit's followed on Big Bend, I don't know what they can do,” Baker said.
"I don't know, and when I look at it, I question it,” Wietecter said.
The truck driver was taken to the hospital. His truck took out two load-bearing walls, and the house isn’t safe to live in until those get fixed.
