Car crashes into Covina home: 'I thought it was an earthquake'

COVINA (FOX 11 / CNS) - A car crashed into a house early Monday in Covina and caught fire, injuring the driver and displacing the residents, authorities said.

The driver was taken to a trauma center following the 3 a.m. crash in the 1300 block of East Puente Street, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch Supervisor Ed Pickett. Two adults and some pets were displaced due to structural damage at the home and the effect of the car fire.

"I thought it was an earthquake,'' resident Robert Bullinger told Fox11. "I mean, it shook the whole house, obviously.''

Bullinger's roommate, Steve Sweeney, told FOX 11 that a young couple passing by the scene were "absolutely heroic'' in the aftermath of the crash.

"The young lady was at the front door yelling (and) helped us find a way out of the house, and the young man pulled the driver out of the burning car,'' Sweeney said.

Detectives were investigating whether the motorist, whose name was not immediately released, was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a Covina police officer said. A building inspector will have to determine if the house is habitable.

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