Accident sends car into home's porch

Galloway Township - A car full of unlicensed teen drivers went through a stop sign Wednesday morning and into another car driven by an elderly man, sending it through a patch of trees and into the porch of a house on Ridgewood Avenue, police said.

John Christian, 80, of Galloway Township, was discharged within a few hours from AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus, according to hospital spokesman Frank Tedesco.

Christian was southbound on Ridgewood Avenue at about 11:45 a.m. when a 17-year-old girl from Galloway ran a stop sign on Eighth Avenue and hit the driver's side of his car, Police Sgt. Kevin Mott said.

The impact forced Christian's car through a patch of trees and across the front yard of a house before it hit the concrete front porch, according to homeowner Jackie Loyle.

Loyle, 40, was at home with her 4-year-old and 11-month-old children when she felt rumbling.

"We were sitting in the living room - I thought it was an earthquake," Loyle said. "I still can't believe it. He could have gone through the bedroom."

Christian's car left a roughly 2-square-inch nick in the siding of the home, smashed front hedges outside the home's master bedroom and knocked one of two porch columns off center.

Officer Bryan Casey issued a summons for failure to stop and driving without a license to the teenage driver, police said. He also charged a 17-year-old male passenger in her car with possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana, Mott said.

The teenage driver apparently apologized for causing the damage to the porch, Loyle said.

Compiled by staff writers Michelle Lee, Emily Previti and Lynda Cohen.

Posted in Atlantic_city on Thursday, August 6, 2009 3:05 am Updated: 5:49 am. | Tags: Atlantic City