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Police: Car hits Arlington Hts. house, driver charged with DUI

A 21-year-old woman accused of driving her car into an Arlington Heights home early Saturday has been charged with drunken driving, officials said.

The car hit the house on the 0 to 20 block of Hintz Road, west of Arlington Heights Road, about 3:30 a.m., according to Arlington Heights police. At least three residents were home at the time but escaped injury, Sgt. Steve Hudgens said.

"It was pretty significant damage," Hudgens said. "The vehicle went probably three quarters into the house."

Authorities called the village's building department to inspect the home, fearing it could collapse if a tow truck removed the car. Crews successfully secured the structure and pulled out the car, Hudgens said.

Police did not immediately identify the driver but said she was treated for minor injuries at Northwest Community Hospital and released.

Next-door neighbors Mike and Gloria Sabbath said they heard the loud noise just outside their bedroom and immediately went to investigate.

"We heard something but didn't know it was right next door," Mike Sabbath said.

He added that car not only narrowly avoided his home but came dangerously close to the gas line of the house it struck. The angle of the car between the two houses made it difficult to extricate, but it was finally removed just before 8 a.m. Saturday.

"You couldn't put that car in that way if you tried," Sabbath said. "It's that bizarre."

Such an incident is not entirely unknown to the Sabbaths, however. Nine years ago a truck hit their parkway tree with an impact that shook their whole house. Even the car that hit the house next door Saturday did not create as strong an impact, Mike Sabbath said.

The owners of the damaged home could not be reached for comment Saturday.

The Sabbaths said their neighbors were undoubtedly stressed out and exhausted after the long ordeal that interrupted their night.

The angle of the car that struck a house on Hintz Road in Arlington Heights early Saturday morning made it difficult to remove, even after the sun rose, neighbors said. courtesy of Mike Sabbath
  Mike Sabbath of Arlington Heights, whose next-door neighbor's home was hit by a car early Saturday morning, picks up pieces of decorative lights broken by the vehicle. Eric Peterson/epeterson@dailyherald.com
  Mike Sabbath, whose next-door neighbor's home was hit by a car early Saturday morning, said his tree was hit by a drunken driver nine years earlier. Eric Peterson/epeterson@dailyherald.com
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