Family reacts after truck crashes into Cape Girardeau home

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Emergency crews responded to a crash into a home in Cape Girardeau on Monday night, January 16.

The crash happened on the 1400 block of Big Bend Road at about 8:30 p.m.

“We heard a boom and then the lights went out,” Jenny Kester, the woman renting the home with her family, said.

They had a total of 10 people in their home for a dinner party when the crash happened. The unexpected noise brought everyone outside.

Kester said after rounding up all of the kids in the house, five in total, they found the truck outside. Her friend, Anthony Batton, ran outside to see what happened.

“We looked and seen the smoke over here, where it happened, and we came over and seen the truck,” Batton said. “And dude was yelling, ‘help.’”

Batton called 911 and rushed to help the driver.

“I cut his airbag on his passenger side so I could get him out,” Batton said.

Parts of the truck are still sitting on the home’s porch. Kester said everyone’s still really shook up, especially the children.

“My son had a night terror last night and my best friend, her daughter, just is really just reliving it, reliving it, reliving it, not moving forward,” she said.

The truck did not make it inside the house, but Batton said it still did a lot of damage.

“The foundation is pretty bad, it cracked it,” Batton said. “I mean it tore the whole corner of the basement out and then cracked the foundation up, so there’s no way, it’s definitely a total loss.”

“We’re not supposed to be in the house,” Kester said.

Now, Kester and her family are packing up, and trying to figure out where to go from here.

“We’re just staying at hotels, we’re not packing essentially,” Kester said. “I think there’s insurance things that need to happen, I’m just trying to get necessities.”

Both Kester and Batton are struggling to find the words to describe what they experienced.

“Really shocked, I mean, you don’t think something like this will happen to you, but it does,” Batton said.

Police said the driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

The vehicle had front end damage and was towed from the scene.

Police believe at this time, the crash was caused by fatigue.

The renters of the home said it appears the pickup truck catapulted off Big Bend Rd., over a hill and into the house.

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