EASTPOINTE (WWJ) - A driver is dead after crashing into a home in Eastpointe in the middle of the night.
It happened just before midnight Tuesday at the corner of 9 Mile Road and Linwood, near Hayes Road. The driver apparently lost control of his pickup truck, which took out a portion of a porch on the neighbor's house before crashing half-way through the side of Nik Drankoski's house.
"The truck was still running and the gentleman driving was stuck on the accelerator," Drankoski told WWJ's Mike Campbell. "I managed to turn the truck off and the driver was unresponsive, unfortunately, and he didn't make it."
Drankodki said he thinks a couch in his basement prevented the truck from going further into the home and causing more damage.
It's not clear what caused the man to lose control of his vehicle. Witnesses told police it appeared that he took off from a light about a quarter of a block away as if he had passed out on the gas pedal, then sped up over the grass and slammed into the house.
Jacqueline Cook was sitting on Drankoski's back porch when the crash happened.
"I heard screeching. I actually think I heard people yelling before it hit the wall, too," she said. "And then I realized what happened so I just kind of ran back in, found where he was and grabbed the cat and ran out."
At this time, police aren't sure if the man may have suffered a medical emergency or was killed in the crash. No one else was injured.
An investigation is ongoing.