Driver Crashes Car Into Homeowner’s Garage

By Jeffrey Smith, News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Talk about an unusual housewarming gift. Tulsa police say a drunken driver crashed his car into a house near 61st and Harvard.

The homeowners just moved in two weeks ago. And it's not the first time someone has crash-landed in the neighborhood.

Homeowner Jill Vise says she's chalking this one up to a freak accident, but The News On 6 heard from three neighbors who all have had a car crash into their yards.

"We see a car laying in our garage that's not ours. And then we notice the roof was taken out," said Jill Vise, homeowner.

Police say a drunken driver was speeding down 61st street near Harvard and barreled into the home. Vise just moved in at the end of October.

"Are you kidding me? I mean, just moving in, we've been here for about two weeks. We just couldn't believe it," said Vise.

Sixty-first street between Harvard and Lewis is littered with S-curves.

Mariann Handlan has lived there for 42 years and says she has had several cars crash into her yard. One time she lost a wall. She says she had to beg the city to get barriers.

"After around the third or fourth accident they were putting in barriers over there around Delaware and Birmingham, and I went over there and said, ‘look, do you want me on my hands and knees? I'd like to have some up by my house too,'" said Mariann Handlan, homeowner.

The city says they can't control drivers who don't follow the law.

"If you go down there, you'll see that speed limit signs are 25 mph at the particular S-curves, and so on and so forth. We really feel we've done everything we can reasonably do to make the roadway as safe as possible," said Paul Strizek, Public Works Manager.

Strizek says they're looking into adding bigger barriers along the road. As she gets ready for her first home-improvement project, Vise says bigger barriers are the way to go.

The City of Tulsa has the right to widen that roadway to four lines, but before they do they have to negotiate with Southern Hills Country Club and the surrounding property owners.

Strizek says there's no timetable for any widening project.