A loud crash in the middle of the night is not what you expect in the quiet neighborhood of 2100 7th Street in Brownwood, but that is what residents Jon and Christy Ellis experienced just after midnight Tuesday morning when a car crashed into their garage and fled the scene, damaging the house, the car, a freezer and their dining room china cabinets and its contents.
A hit and run of a house is what the incident was being called Tuesday morning as police responded. Christy was sleeping with their son because he had the flu and Jon had just gotten up from falling asleep watching television just before hearing squealing tires as the car hit the house according to Christy. Luckily the boys slept through the noise, but were quite emotional when they were told about the accident as their parents explained the mess next morning.
It appeared that the car came barreling through the corner of the yard near the driveway, striking the garage door and center brick between the garage doors, pushing Jon’s Pontiac Aztec into the chest freezer which impacted the dining room wall, knocking the china hutch over and onto the dining room table leaving the scene. The chest full of dishes and sentimental family pieces hit what could have been where Christy would have been sitting had the accident happened during dinner. A storage box full of broken dishes was a result of the accident, which included dishes both sets of their parents got when they married years ago, a pottery churn (which only had a chip as damage) that belonged to Jon’s grandmother, and an antique napkin holder that had belonged to Christy’s great grandmother (who passed away in 1997). This was the damage that could not be repaired…sentimental items that cannot be replaced.
“We were holding it together until we started going through the broken dishes,” stated Christy. “Then I noticed a napkin holder that was my great grandmother’s was broken.”
Jon stated that the car hit really hard, and evidence at the scene (a thick tire track of rubber left on the driveway) indicated that the driver put the vehicle into reverse before fleeing the scene “pealing out” with some difficulty. He also stated that there should be significant damage to the side of the vehicle according to the tire tracks; however very little car parts were broken off during the accident as evidence.
“Amazing thing is that we only found a handful of car parts,” stated Jon.
A neighbor offered some clues as he was also woken by the noise, stating that he had seen a white cloud of dust left by the suspect which had still not been found as of Wednesday afternoon.
As their insurance agent, David Robnett, drove up and assessed the damage Wednesday, he reassured the Ellis family that things would be taken care of and how he was thankful that it occurred when it did.
“All of this can be fixed, and it will be,” stated Robnett. “Just the little treasures like this, as he pointed to their son standing nearby, that can’t be replaced. We’re just grateful it happened the way it did.”
A reward is being offered if a suspect is brought to justice.
Below are photos of damage shortly after the incident occurred. Photos contributed.
Photo of vehicle pushed against the freezer in the garage.
View of china cabinet toppled onto dining room table.
Jon Ellis sifting through the rubble.
