Driver in critical condition after careening off freeway, crashing into northeast OKC home
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A driver is in critical condition after the SUV he was driving veered off an Oklahoma City freeway and crashed through a woman’s house Tuesday afternoon.
Oklahoma City firefighters responded to a house along a northbound Broadway Extension service road just north of Hefner Road after neighbors reported a large SUV had crashed through the back of the home shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Firefighters on the scene told News 4 that a man had been driving the SUV northbound on Broadway Extension (U.S. 77) and had just passed over Hefner Road, when he suffered a medical episode.
They say the man’s vehicle careened off the freeway, down an embankment, over an entrance ramp, down another embankment, over a frontage road, through a grassy field, between two trees, and through a fence before crashing through the back doors of the home.
Medics took the man to a local hospital, where firefighters said he was listed in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.
Firefighters had to bring in metal braces to keep the home from collapsing due to the damage caused by the SUV.
It took crews several hours to remove the vehicle from the house.
News 4 spoke to the homeowner, who was not home at the time of the crash.
She said she was at work when it happened, and police officers called her to let her know.
She said she was not originally supposed to go into work on Tuesday but decided to go in anyway.
She told News 4 that had she stayed home like she originally planned, she would have likely been sitting in the room the SUV crashed through.
Neighbors told News 4 this was not the first time they’ve seen a crash like this.
“This is bad, I know one day someone’s gonna get killed up here,” said Orville Hazley, neighbor. “All the time someone’s running into the wall up here on the corner, or going the wrong way on the one way street.”