At approximately 6:29 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, a two-vehicle collision that occurred on North Park Drive in Winslow resulted in one of vehicles colliding into a home on that same street.
According to police reports, after striking a vehicle near Desmond Street, a truck then drove into the home of Tommy and Sabrina Butler on North Park Drive. Police refused to provide the names of either driver but said the pickup’s driver was experiencing a medical event that contributed to both collisions.
No one inside the home was injured. Both drivers were taken to the Little Colorado Medical Center emergency room with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Neither vehicle had passengers.
The Butlers’ adult daughter, Rachel, was home with her niece, 4-year-old Ruby. The two were playing and watching TV in the living room when the truck hit the house. “It took me a minute to figure out what happened,” Rachel said.
The crash destroyed the nursery and Rachel’s bedroom and blew out the wall of the hallway connecting them. Rhett, Ruby’s father, said the nursery took the worst of the damage and is where Ruby most likely would have been if they weren’t playing and watching TV in the living room.
Winslow firefighters secured one of the truck’s two batteries right away but the other was pinned against a wall. Crews waited until the truck could be pulled out before securing it, so a fire would not start later. Firefighters also helped the family board up the hole in the house that night.
North Park Drive was closed for about six hours and reopened at about 12:39 a.m. the following morning. The Arizona Department of Public Safety, Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, Action Medical and the city’s streets department also responded.
