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Couple shaken by car wrecking home

They are treated for scrapes and bruises.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published February 9, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [photo: Eamonn Kneeshaw] Largo police investigate the scene of a car that missed a turn and hit a house on Fourth Avenue NW on Wednesday evening.

LARGO - George and Bonnie Barnard were watching television Wednesday evening when a car crashed through their living room wall.

With a late-model Honda protruding from their home, the shaken couple was taken to Morton Plant Hospital where they were treated for scrapes and bruises.

Thursday though, George Barnard had made a doctor's appointment for today because he still had pain in one shoulder.

They preferred that their son speak about the accident.

Debris "hit my mother, who was on the couch, and it hit my father who was on the chair," said Jeb Barnard, 43. "The car landed about 8-10 feet into the living room."

George and Bonnie - 70 and 68, respectively - have lived at 202 Fourth Ave. NW for 25 years. He worked in the floor-carpeting business and she was an office manager for a doctor.

Around 8:20 p.m., Spencer Hornsby was going too fast to make the sharp curve from northbound First Street to westbound Fourth Avenue, police said.

"He did not realize that a left turn was coming up," said Largo police Officer Alban Veizi, "By the time he realized it, he was on the residents' driveway. His vehicle entered about halfway."

Jeb Barnard was a few minutes behind the accident. He was coming to visit his parents with his son after Little League practice.

"We saw all the lights and rescue units," he said. "You know the layout of the house. You don't know if the car had run over them."

Hornsby, 34, of Belleair was not injured, Veizi said. There were no alcohol or drugs involved. He was going 45 mph in a 15 mph zone.

He was cited for reckless driving. Police had to cut his 2006 Honda out of the wall.

The hole in the living room wall has been covered with plywood, Jeb Barnard said. The city made sure the house was structurally sound, but the couple was waiting for insurance representatives.

Neighbors have long thought that the curve is unsafe and they hope the city will now install more traffic signs around, Jeb Barnard said.

"We make the comments here, 'One of these days a car is going to go through a house,' " he said. "And it happened to be their house."

Jose Cardenas can be reached at (727) 445-4224 or jcardenas@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 8, 2007, 22:40:15]