New driver lands in Brooklyn Park living room

Article by: JIM ADAMS , Star Tribune
Updated: July 17, 2010 - 10:42 PM

The Brooklyn Park man said he got drive and reverse mixed up, crashing into an apartment. No one was hurt.

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Brooklyn Park police noticed a couple odd things when they responded to a car crash at the Eden Park Apartments shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday.

A Geo Prizm had smashed through two big windows and landed in the living room of a ground-floor apartment. “The whole car was in there,” Sgt. Ken Banks said.

Luckily, only a cat was in the living room. But when police checked the bedrooms, they found a mother and three young children. Still asleep.

“It appeared they slept through it,” Banks said. So did the people in the unit above, he added, somewhat incredulously. Many others, however, heard the crash and called police.

Two men in their 30s were climbing out of the pane-free windows as police arrived. The car’s owner, who lived in the building, said he had been teaching his friend how to drive when the crash happened, said Banks, who wouldn’t release their names.

The friend explained that he thought he had shifted the car into reverse, but apparently it was in drive. He hit the gas, and the car sped across 20 feet of grass, through the big windows and down into the sunken living room, Banks said. The car stopped after pushing a TV entertainment center through the kitchen wall.

The apartment needs some work, and the tenants were moved to a vacant unit, Banks said.

The cat survived.

The car was totaled.

Since it was an accident, charges are unlikely, Banks said.

“I’d say pay a little bit more attention if you are training other individuals, especially if they are starting out new,” he said. “I hope they go to a real driving school.”