Bed frame saves couple after car crashes into S. Elgin home

A refrigerator, wooden dresser and sturdy bed frame were all that separated Carlo Panzarino and his wife, Mary Ann, from the two tons of speeding metal that came crashing into their home early Sunday morning, but it was just enough.

The Panzarinos were shaken, but not injured, after a four-door sedan plowed into the side of their South Elgin home about 3 a.m. Sunday, coming to a stop fully inside the lower level where the couple were sleeping just a few feet away.

"The bed frame saved us," Carlo Panzarino said. "It was metal. It was a good one. Now we are alive."

The car smashed through a wall at the back of the home near the 100 block of Gilbert Street and destroyed a refrigerator and dresser. Carlo Panzarino said his three children, two girls and a boy, also were asleep in the home when the car crashed into the residence, but they were not hurt.

Police said three people inside the vehicle were hospitalized after the crash. Their conditions were not immediately known.

South Elgin police Sgt. Randy Endean said the vehicle was traveling north on Gilbert Street when it veered across the southbound lane, struck the curb, went airborne and then smashed through a wall on the home, ending up in the lower level.

Later Sunday, newly installed boards covered up the hole left by the car. A large crater in the ground showed where the car landed after going airborne. The rear fender still sat in the Panzarinos' backyard.

Endean said when first responders arrived at the scene they found that the driver had gotten out of the car and fled. Police located the driver a short time later after a resident in a nearby neighborhood called 911 to report a suspicious person.

Carlo Panzarino said the driver pulled his two passengers out of the car, laid them in the snow and then asked him not to call 911 before fleeing.

The driver and the two passengers were taken to Presence St. Joseph Hospital.

Police would not provide any details late Sunday night.