Teen drives car into house

Patricia Burris stands in front of her sunroom that was hit by a teen driver Wednesday night. (Photo by Anna Rochelle) [Order this photo]

She thought there had been an explosion nearby but as she walked through her house, she realized a car had just driven into her sunroom.

She lives on 4th St. in northwest Linton, near the school.

"The whole house just shook, like there had been an explosion. It was very loud. I thought maybe something had happened at the school," said Burris.

It wasn't an explosion -- it was a car that slammed into the sunroom on the back of her house shattering glass and knocking out two sets of sliding-glass doors.

Burris called the room her "flower room" -- with floor-to-ceiling glass walls, it was the perfect spot for her indoor garden of over 75 plants.

Before Burris had time to fully realize what had happened, the driver of the car had reversed course and was backing out of the mess, leaving behind a few momentos like silver car parts, including the front turn signal, mixed in with shards of glass, pieces of wood and broken plants.

Although the front door of Burris' house has an address on NW 4th St., her back yard stretches to NW 5th St., just south of the stop sign at NW 5th and H Sts.

Judging from the tire tracks through the yard, the vehicle, which had been northbound on 5th St., made a right turn into Burris' yard and then drove about 75 feet straight through grass into the back of the sunroom.

The car was driven by a 17-year-old woman, Briana Booher, who lives on 5th St.

Burris said a witness driving on 5th St., behind the young woman, said her right turn signal was on as she made the turn into Burris' yard.

Burris said the woman told her she thought she was turning into her boyfriend's grandma's driveway.

Another witness, a neighbor who lives across the street from the Burris' back yard, just happened to be looking out of his bay window and saw the whole thing.

Burris said the neighbor also saw the car backing up and out of the yard so he ran outside, stopped the car and asked the driver for the keys.

Det. Sgt. Keith McDonald arrived on the scene quickly followed by other officers from the Linton Police Department. On Thursday, an investigation into the accident was ongoing.

Police Chief Troy Jerrell said Booher was given standardized field sobriety tests and a portable breathalyzer test and she passed them both.

Jerrell said officers on the scene reported that Booher did not appear as though she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Early Thursday, Burris was picking up the pieces with help from Sparks Construction of Linton. As they worked outside on the clean-up, including boarding up the big holes in her sunroom, Burris was inside contacting her insurance agent.