Vehicle careens from highway to Elma couple’s yard
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This article was published 01/05/2020 (1825 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Patsy Kozak thought her and husband Ed bought a house in a great location, but a vehicle recently sped off the road onto their yard for the sixth time.
The Kozaks live in Elma where the north/south running Highway 11 crosses the east end of Highway 15.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 22, the Kozaks had finished supper when a Toyota Rav 4 blew a stop sign at the end of Highway 15 and ripped across their yard, finally stopping on a slope leading to train tracks near the edge of their property.
“He must have been going 100 or more because when he left the highway he flew about 40 feet,” Ed said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
As the vehicle tore through their yard, it hit and destroyed a wooden playhouse in which Ed stored a number of glass panes. Shattered glass spread across their yard.
“All the mudcakes that we made there,” Patsy said, reminiscing about the playhouse. Patsy is The Carillon’s Elma correspondent.
The Kozaks were informed by emergency staff that responded to the scene, that the driver, from Monominto, had a seizure while driving.
The driver didn’t appear seriously injured, and emergency staff were on the scene for over two hours, Ed said. A tow truck towed the vehicle off the property.
The end of Highway 15 is a distance from the house and Ed said he wasn’t scared the vehicle would hit the house. But it left a mess the Kozaks hope their children or local youth will help clean.
Fortunately for Patsy, decorative deer in the couple’s front yard were untouched.
Ed said the recent vehicle was the sixth that ended up on their property. Erecting a solid barrier to stop vehicles from flying into their yard could kill somebody, Ed said.
Flying vehicles don’t seem to the only hazards for the Kozaks. In 1989, Ed said, a train derailed near their property, and cars were in the ditch close to their house, spilling lumber and oil.