Family in Yuba City home nearly hit by car

The property has seen some close calls over the years.

Cars and trucks barreling north on Elmer Avenue or west on Pease Road have crossed into an exposed side yard at the intersection. A few vehicles have been stopped by the trunk of a sturdy old shade tree there.

But Kirstin McCarty-Evans said she never expected the inside of her family's house to become the site of a car wreck.

"We could hear it screeching down the street. It kept coming louder," she said Monday of the sports car she and her husband listened to as they relaxed on their living room sofa at about 8:50 p.m. Sunday.

"They tried to take the corner at about 75 miles an hour," said Lukas Evans of the car's driver, who apparently ignored a stop sign — and the house beyond it.

"People think this is a drag strip," he said of Pease Road.

William Kyle Bearry, 32, of Yuba City, was eventually arrested by California Highway Patrol officers after crashing through the garage and into a storage room beyond it. Neither he nor his female passenger was injured.

"It has been determined that alcohol played a role in this collision," said a CHP press release. The full list of charges against Bearry had not yet been determined on Monday.

Just 40 minutes prior to the crash, the McCarty-Evans couple had finished up their nightly fitness routines in the garage where the Nissan 370Z came to rest.

Strewn bits of workout gear and fitness equipment helped tell the tale Monday.

Broken pieces of a utility pole in the yard pointed toward the wreckage indoors, including a kitchen door thrown some 12-15 feet from its hinges at the garage threshold.

"They sheared it right off the ground and pushed it straight through the garage," McCarty-Evans said of the pole. "It took out the washer, dryer and water heater, and ended up wedged in there."

From what's left of the garage, one can now see deep into the home's interior.

"Everything went black," McCarty-Evans said of the power outage caused by the crash. "It was nothing but smoke, and red from their tail lights.

"I can still feel myself getting off the couch. It was only a matter of seconds, but it seemed like an eternity," McCarty-Evans said of her instinctive response to the crash, just a few yards away.

On Monday, Julian Evans, 10, wore a Captain America T-shirt and Superman cap, as if to make double-sure the frightening event would not recur.

The child had been in his bedroom, just beyond the living room, when the car crashed through.

"I just started screaming," Julian said.

Neighbors several doors away felt the ground shake and heard the crash, McCarty-Evans said. They seemed to be at the site in an instant, checking to make sure the family was all right.

On Monday, McCarty-Evans said she was still badly shaken from the incident.

"I know it could have been much worse. Everyone was able to get up and walk away," she said.

The house has been deemed uninhabitable, and a Sutter County building inspector said Monday the garage would almost certainly have to be demolished and rebuilt.

The family will stay with relatives nearby until the damage can be repaired.

Lukas Evans, an Army reservist who has done three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, is scheduled to be deployed again in May.

"I hope we can get this all patched up before he leaves," said McCarty-Evans, looking over the rubble. "And I wish people would make better decisions."

CONTACT Nancy Pasternack at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4781. Find her on Facebook at /ADnpasternack or on Twitter at @ADnpasternack.