Car flies into house

Olds RCMP say no charges are anticipated against an elderly couple whose vehicle flew through the air and smashed into a garage and part of one house and hit another in Olds on Friday, Feb. 3.

The accident happened at about 10 a.m. at 174 Balsam Cres. near Deer Meadow School. The houses involved back onto 54th Street.

Olds RCMP, the Olds Fire Department and EMS responded.

An elderly couple in their 70s and 80s were trapped but were eventually able to get out and were assisted by ambulance personnel (EMS) and taken to hospital, where they remained late Friday. Occupants of the two homes were not injured.

Witnesses say the westbound 2016 Jeep Cherokee hit a power pole on 54th Street and flew for about 30 feet before hitting the garage. It slammed into the southwest corner a house. Witnesses could see a bedroom exposed.

The vehicle slammed into the southeast part corner of Olds chief operating officer Doug Wagstaff's house, pushing his deck a couple of feet west. Wagstaff told news media no one was home at his house at the time. He's just relieved it didn't turn out worse.

As it sped toward the house, the garage collapsed and landed on top of the vehicle. ATCO employees were called, as gas could be smelled.

"Olds RCMP say "there is no criminal aspect to the driving behavior and no charges are being considered at this time."

"A medical complication arose for the male driver as the vehicle was westbound and resulted in him being incapable of operating the vehicle," an RCMP news release says.

Olds resident Brandi Kelner was driving toward the four-way stop at 54th Street and 57th Avenue when she saw the vehicle coming her way.

"I was just driving towards the four-way (stop). They swerved at me and I quickly swerved to the side and they went – swerved the other way. And then it looked like they just went out of control and just smashed. It was so fast," she told Mountain View Publishing.

She then saw it crash with a loud bang.

"It looked like he had a foot on the gas. There was no skidding; it just looked like it was direct impact," she said.

"It was scary."

"I went to the scene. I couldn't get through so some men came and climbed over the fence and whatnot. We couldn't get through to the people (trapped inside the vehicle)," she added.

Kelner said she could tell the vehicle's occupants were alive because she could hear them "talking and breathing."

Rudolf Liebenberg lives across the street from where the accident occurred.

"I was actually in my kitchen. I didn't see the vehicle, but I heard, like, a loud bang. Then I looked outside and all of this was actually down. And you could see the lamppost over there, it actually was driven over," he said.

"I couldn't see if there was actually a car inside (the garage or house) and then I ran over, and then I saw there was a car inside the actual garage and you could smell the gas and then so forth.

"Then of course there were people stopping and getting through that sort of gap between the garage and the fence. I checked if the people were actually OK," he added.

Liebenberg too could tell a man and a woman were inside the vehicle and were talking to those trying to help them. He could tell that at least one of them – possibly the woman – was bleeding and he heard she reportedly had "a bump on the ribs."

Liebenberg said a woman called 911.

"I stood towards the back because you could smell the gas," he said.

He knew that the neighbour whose house was also hit works for the town of Olds so he phoned the town office.

"All my sympathies to the people," Liebenberg said. "Emergency was pretty quick and everyone was really helpful. I think it was a good community effort."

-With files from Dan Singleton, MVP staff