Family gets scare after car crashes into home


By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff


BELLE FOURCHE - There are a lot of what ifs running through the minds of Scott and Teresa Cass right now.



The Belle Fourche couple was asleep in their two-story home Thursday night when they were jolted awake by the sound of a vehicle plowing into their house.



Scott ran downstairs to the room of his two daughters, Kelsey, 7, and McKenna, 6, expecting to find the worst.



"I saw the carnage and ran to the bunks screaming for the girls," he said.



Then he remembered that his mother, who was in town for Christmas, had taken the girls for the night and they weren't there.



"It was the only night since I can remember that they haven't slept in their beds," he said.



Scott, in his barefeet and underwear, went out onto the front lawn of the 7th Street house and pulled an unidentified male out of the passenger seat.



Scott said he thinks the driver was intoxicated and he kept mumbling "don't call the cops; I'll fix it; I'll pay for it."



Scott took the man to the girls' bedroom to show him the destruction before calling the police.



The man's dark blue four-door vehicle had crashed through the wall, hit the bunk bed and pushed it through the closet on the other side of the room. Several walls, upstairs and downstairs, cracked from the impact and the floor joists in the house have been compromised, Scott said.



To add to the what ifs, Teresa was nine months pregnant and due on Jan. 10. She ended up giving birth the following day to a son, Colton. Teresa and the baby are healthy and now at home.



"I was worried about bringing him home," Scott said of the baby. "But now I don't want to be scared. This is my house, and I don't want to be scared."



Teresa said the driver was arrested at the scene, but they don't know his name and have not received a police report from the Belle Fourche Police Department. The police department directed inquiries about the accident to the State's Attorney.



The family is also waiting to hear back from a contractor on how bad the damage is. In the meantime, Scott covered the gaping hole with insulation and installed studs to keep the corner of the house from collapsing.



The family will have to temporarily move out of the house until the construction is done because they don't want the newborn to be around the dust.



"It's kind of thrown everything off balance with bringing a baby home," Teresa said. The two girls are sleeping in the baby's room upstairs until the damage can be repaired.



By Sunday, the bunk bed and wall was nothing but splinters and boards on a flatbed trailer parked in front of the house, Kelsey and McKenna's Finding Nemo bedspreads and pillows already gone.



When the girls came home and saw their bedroom for the first time, Scott said "they were scared to death.



They were confused. They haven't said what they think; they're kind of lost."



In Cass living room Sunday, relatives and friends stopped by to give congratulations for the new baby and condolences for the accident. Kelsey held Colton on the couch and McKenna colored at the kitchen table, both listening as their parents told of an all-too close call.



Scott said he wants the man to take responsibility for his actions.



"I want him to realize how close he came to hurting my two little girls," he said.



Teresa said that maybe hearing this story will help deter others from drinking and driving.



It could have been so much worse, she said.



"It's overwhelming."