By Rebecca Harshbarger, Julia Marsh, and Pedro Oliveira Jr.
New York Post
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Staten Island man drove into a Staten Island home early this morning, trapping a mom and her young daughter, police said.
The 22-year-old driver lost control of his 2010 Hyundai Elantra about 4:10 a.m. when he was heading north on Lee Avenue in Tottenville, and plowed into a kitchen in a private home on Arthur Kill Road, cops said.
Investigators are looking at whether he was boozed-up, police sources said.
FDNY responders rescued Lisa Roman, 40, and Leonora Roman, 5, after they were pinned by the Elantra, authorities said.
Melissa Roman, 17, said she was sleeping with her 15-year-old sister in the bedroom, while her mom and little sister were asleep on a couch in the kitchen.
“We were all sleeping. All of a sudden we woke up to a boom!” said Melissa. “We were trying to call out to my sister, because she wasn’t responding. I was trying to pull my mother out.... [she] was more than halfway under the car. All you could see were her head and shoulders. We thought it was a nightmare!”
Responders pulled out the two after about twenty minutes, and they were rushed to Staten Island University North Hospital, authorities said.
“They were totally under the car. The mom was speaking, the daughter wasn’t,” said one firefighter who helped rescue the two. “The car was at least halfway in when we pulled up. I went to the outside, and cut open the side of the house…we lifted the car.”
Their father Leocadio Roman, 55, rushed to the hospital after he got a disturbing early morning phone call. “My daughter was saying ‘daddy, a car went through the house!’ I went crazy. I fell down the stairs running,” he said, distraught.
“I went through every red light I could to get to the hospital. I’d never think my little one would be in that condition, and my wife, too.”
The Romans had recently separated and were living apart at the time of the crash.
The mom suffered bad burns to her back, while the child’s arm was burnt, and her bones were broken underneath her eye, according to the family.
Police sources said the woman also suffered fractures to her face and leg. She was in critical but stable condition, and her daughter is stable, authorities said.
“All I really care about is them surviving,” said Melissa. “I don’t care about anything else.”
The driver was taken into police custody on suspicion of drunk driving, but has not yet been charged, sources said.
Neighbor Richard Skeotan, 56, said a car went through the same home about ten years ago. “I heard the crash, it was one big bang!” he said. “They need to put up a barricade!”
Landlord Al Calascione, 48, said the driver was boozed-up in the first crash. “This is the second time it’s happened,” he said.
Neighbor Ashley Montaovo, 22, was outraged about the crash. “Their mom was stuck, she was asking where her daughter was,” she said. “I heard yelling, ‘where’s my daughter? Is my baby okay?’ It’s ridiculous that an innocent child was hurt.”
Republished with permission from New York Post