Passenger charged with DWI after car crashes into Staten Island home
PORT RICHMOND, Staten Island (WABC) -- Police are continuing to search for the driver of a vehicle that crashed into a home on Staten Island.
The driver is accused of crashing his truck and then running away from the scene.
His 18-year-old passenger is under arrest for DWI after the suspect apparently grabbed the wheel and tried to drive off after being left alone in the vehicle, but crashed into a parked car.
It happened on Jewett Avenue in Port Richmond just before 2:45 a.m. Monday, with the driver slamming into the porch area.
No one was injured, but 19 residents of the home were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night into freezing cold temperatures.
"Whoever did this has to pay for what he did, because obviously none of us should have been woken up like this," tenant Denisse Zacatenco said.
The Red Cross was on the scene to help keep residents warm in a bus until they could be relocated to a hotel.
A partial vacate order was put in place by the Department of Buildings after allegedly illegal apartments were found in the cellar and attic.
"I don't think anyone was hurt, but obviously our house is not in a very good condition right now," Zacatenco said. "And one of us can't live in one of the rooms anymore."
The vacate order affected only the damaged front porch area, the attic and the cellar. The tenants living on the first and second floor of the building were not impacted.
The investigation into the crash continues.
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