Cars Have Crashed Into This Man's House 23 Times In 50 Years
Homeownership comes with its share of headaches. Sometimes it's a noisy neighbor. Other times it's a seemingly endless cycle of one thing breaking right after another. But one Northern California man has an even bigger problem — cars crashing into his house. Not just once, not twice, but 23 times and counting, according to WJHG.
The latest hit occurred when a 2016 GMC High Sierra truck came crashing into Ray Minter's living room just as he was drifting off to sleep, according to The San Jose Spotlight. His immediate thought was that it was an earthquake, until it dawned on him that another car had hit his home.
"It was going 105 miles per hour when it pushed my car and everything into my garage," Minter said to the San José Spotlight. "I wish I could tell you I was scared, but after years of dealing with this, you get used to it."
Car after car keeps crashing into the man's home
The impact of the last crash was strong enough to pierce through a series of reinforcements Minter installed to prevent damage, including metal gates, poles, and a brick barrier. The vehicle destroyed Minter's garage, his car, and even damaged the structural integrity of his home, according to The San Jose Spotlight.
But Minter has dealt with lots of damage over the years from cars that seem cosmically drawn to his property. He moved into the East San Jose area home in the 1960s. At the time, the area was filled with fruit orchards. In the 1970s, when a freeway exit was built across from his home, accidents started happening. Some cars come flying off the exit and land in his yard, others crash into the house. It's happened so often that Minter calls his property a "landing strip," according to FOX5 in Atlanta.
Worse than the property damage, most of which has been covered by insurance, is the danger to his family. Minter says his father had been sitting in the garage when a car landed there. Luckily, his father had gone inside moments before the crash. Another time, a car hit his niece who was playing outside, sending the toddler to the hospital, according to The San Jose Spotlight.
What's a homeowner to do?
Minter hasn't sat quietly while it happened again and again, either. He's asked the city, county, and state to do something to make the freeway exit and intersection safer, but most of those requests have been ignored, according to FOX5 Atlanta. The City of San Jose says it's requested grant money for a project that would make changes to the intersection and add a median, according to WJHG. The earliest the project would start would be summer of 2023.
For his part, Minter has spent thousands of dollars installing a perimeter around his front yard that he hopes will give some protection. His fortifications include heavy metal posts and a double-brick wall that's filled with cement, rebar, and even a curved railroad track, according to KDFW.
One thing Minter isn't doing: moving. "I mean, where else can I go?" he said, according to WJHG. "I mean, my neighborhood, nobody bothers you.'