Car hitting house isn't a first for West Jordan man

Jason Goodrich was roused from his sleep early Dec. 31, and he didn't know why.

But his wife knew. She heard the crash.

It was after midnight, and when they went outside to investigate, they found a car had hit the side of the garage.

The new car was sitting sideways. It had been driven by a woman running from police and crashed through their fence and into their garage.

Maybe something of a small curse has followed Jason Goodrich. This is the second time a car has hit his home. In 2003 in Laramie, Wyo., a drunken driver slammed into the side of a home where he was a renter. The man had already hit parked cars, and when the police found him he sped away and landed in the home's front room.

"What are the odds of your house getting hit once, let alone twice?" he asked.

As Goodrich and his wife watched during the early hours of Dec. 31, police took a 24-year-old woman into custody.

Beyond the challenge of having his house hit by a car, Goodrich was also incorrectly listed as having been arrested that night — even though he had done nothing wrong.

In fact, he was not arrested. And that led to confusion among his friends and neighbors.

Damage estimates to the Goodrich home, sitting on the corner at 8620 S. 3992 West in West Jordan, are between $5,000 and $13,000, Goodrich said.

The $13,000 estimate came from a contractor Goodrich hired, and the $5,000 estimate came from his insurance company. So, that's a headache he needs to work out.

"The cops told us the woman had run from them last week," Goodrich said.

Police told him the department has a no-pursuit policy, so when an officer spotted the woman at a nearby fast-food parking lot, he boxed in her car.

Unfortunately, the woman was able to get away, Goodrich said. She sped away and ended up at Goodrich's house, where Goodrich and his wife have lived for the past three months.

It was an unwelcome welcome to the neighborhood.

The woman was booked into jail on investigation of evading a police officer, driving under the influence and driving on a suspended driver's license. A man in the car also was arrested.

By 4 a.m., the car had been towed away, and Goodrich had taken lots of pictures.

"The contractor was amazed the house didn't crumple," Goodrich said. The car had knocked into the garage wall, causing the room above the garage to slant slightly.

This is the last corner home Goodrich says he will ever own.

Or, he joked, he could erect a concrete wall around his home as a target for drunken drivers with a sign that says "Hit here."

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com