A pickup truck tore into the side of a Stedman family's home around 2:45 a.m. Thursday, slamming the structure so hard that part of it was knocked clean off its foundation. Ja'Nyra Richardson, who lives in the house with her family, said she was in her bedroom when she heard a loud boom — and that her 18-month-old son, mother, grandmother and 11-year-old sister were all asleep on the other side of the house when the truck hit.
The crash happened on Clinton Road near Highway 24, according to ABC11, which reported that officials said a 21-year-old driver was headed west on Clinton Road when he left the roadway, struck a stop sign and lost control before plowing into the home. The impact was severe enough to badly damage the structure, and power and water service have since been shut off as a result.
Richardson said she believed the outcome could have been far worse had her sister been in her usual room. “If she was back there, it probably would have killed her,” Richardson said, per the same report. The corner home has been in Richardson's family for more than 60 years, and her grandmother runs a beauty shop in the back of the property, where she works as a beautician.
Impaired Driver Allegation and Emergency Response
Emergency crews from Stedman Fire Rescue, Vander Fire Rescue and Cumberland County EMS responded to the scene after the crash. Officials told Eyewitness News that the driver was impaired at the time of the wreck, the station's report notes, though further details on the driver were not available.
In the aftermath, neighbors stepped in to help, providing the family with money and food, the outlet reported. Richardson described the curb at the corner as very sharp and dangerous, and said she believed the truck may have hit a ditch in the area where she said many accidents have happened before.
A History of Crashes at the Corner
Richardson said this was far from an isolated incident, telling the station, “This is the sixth or seventh one in the past year and a half, two years at the most.” The North Carolina Department of Transportation's Traffic Safety Unit, for its part, reported four crashes at the intersection over the past five years.
NCDOT public relations officer Andrew Barksdale said the department had not previously been told that the location was a concern, according to the same account. The agency did confirm it had already taken action on one piece of damage from Thursday's crash: workers fixed a stop sign that had been knocked down in the wreck.
What Happens Next for the Roadway
NCDOT said it takes safety evaluation requests seriously and will assess roadways for possible improvements consistent with federal highway guidelines. Residents can request a road safety evaluation directly from the agency, and NCDOT also notes that the public can use its crash-data request tool to find out how many crashes, or what kinds, have occurred at a specific location over a given period.
For now, the Richardson family is left counting what they have rather than what they lost, with the home still without power or water and part of its foundation compromised. The crash has reignited long-standing frustration in the household over a corner Richardson says has been a recurring hazard for years.
