After a police vehicle crashed into her house, Texas homeowner felt left on her own to pick up the pieces
After a police vehicle crashed into her house
By Brian New
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GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (KTVT) — On a cold night in mid-December, a Grand Prairie homeowner woke up to a loud bang to find a police vehicle had crashed into her house.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” said Samantha Davis who was startled to walk downstairs to see a giant hole in her kitchen.
While Davis said she never heard from Grand Prairie Police that night, she later learned from a neighbor that on the street behind her house police officers had been chasing armed robbery suspects when one of the officers lost control of her vehicle making a sharp left turn.
According to the crash report, the police vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and went airborne as it crashed through a fence and into Davis’ house.
According to Grand Prairie police, the officer then jumped out, leaving the door open, as she threw out stop sticks at the fleeing suspects. Shortly thereafter, police officials said the suspects were caught. Police have not released details on the armed robbery suspects, citing an ongoing investigation.
However, it’s what did not happen in the weeks following the December crash that had Davis disappointed the most in the city.
The night of the crash a Grand Prairie fire captain at the scene told Davis her family needed to get out of their home until they could ensure their home wouldn’t collapse.
The next morning, firefighters gave Davis the all-clear to return to her home but Davis said that was the last she heard from anyone with the city for weeks.
“I haven’t heard from the city at all,” Davis told the CBS News Texas I-Team. “They are not communicating. They don’t even know if we’re okay.”
Davis’ home, to no fault of her own, was severely damaged and yet, she said, she was left on her own to figure out how to get it fixed.
After the I-Team reached out to Grand Prairie officials, Davis received a call from an assistant police chief and the city’s insurance company.
The city told the I-Team that an insurance adjuster had tried to reach out earlier to Davis. Davis said she never got that message.
This time the city’s insurance company made sure it spoke directly to Davis and told her it would reimburse her insurance company the full amount to fix her home as well as her out-of-pocket expenses.
Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney told the I-Team in a statement, “While apprehending armed violent offenders who enter our city to victimize our residents is a priority for Grand Prairie police officers, damaging private property in the course of their capture is never our intent. I am grateful no one was injured in this unfortunate accident.”
Nearly eight weeks after the crash, repairs to the hole in Davis’s house began.
Davis said she is grateful the city is finally taking care of the issue. She just wished it would have happened sooner.
“It would have softened some of the shock of the damage if they reached out sooner but it didn’t happen and so it is disappointing.”
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