A driver was taken to the hospital Wednesday afternoon after reversing 200 feet across the lawn outside a Bloomfield apartment complex and smashing into a first-floor bedroom.
First responders said driver Kedar Cockings maneuvered his car across the grass and ended up inside someone's condo at 18 Wedgewood Drive near the intersection of Blue Hills Avenue. It happened around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
By a stroke of luck, no one was inside the condo when the car came crashing through. Neighbors said the resident of the damaged unit is usually home during the day – but today he was out, and that may very well have saved his life.
"I had my blessing because I wasn't here," said Marvin Anderson, who lives in the damaged unit. "That's the way I see it. It could have been worse."
The car became wedged inside Anderson's bedroom, and although the structure is still standing, the interior has been reduced to a pile of rubble.
"As I walked across the grass, I said, 'That's my bedroom and I don't see my window,' and I think, 'What's wrong here, did I have a fire?'" Anderson recalled, adding that he first wondered if someone had played an April Fools' joke on him.
Emergency crews cut the condo's gas and electricity and turned off power to the unit above so they could safely remove the vehicle and check the damage.
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Anderson, a six-year resident of the complex, said he plans to stay with a friend tonight because he has no heat – and no bedroom.
"I'm blessed. I'm blessed, and that's all I can think about," he said. "This can be replaced."
Authorities are working to piece together what happened. Bloomfield Fire Chief Robert Farmer said the car had to swerve around another building before plowing into the damaged condo.
Cockings, the driver, was taken to the hospital for observation. Police said his injuries don't appear to be serious.
"There are a lot of kids that are here over at the complex and play throughout here, so thankfully, no one was injured," Farmer said.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
