Driver of stolen car slams into Ottawa home

Residents of a quiet west Ottawa neighbourhood were shocked Wednesday night when a teen driver crashed a stolen car into a home.

The SUV slammed into the home at the end of a cul-de-sac on Lloydalex Crescent in Stittsville around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Porch video from a nearby home shows a car travelling at high speed slamming into the house. A second car then comes into the frame before turning around and heading the other way.

"We heard a loud bang,” said Sal Martorana, the neighbour who captured the video.

"We have kids and I assumed it was the kids upstairs that did it, but my wife heard tires streaking outside and she walked outside and all I heard was 'Call 911, call 911.'"

Ottawa police said the OPP advised them of a stolen vehicle heading into Ottawa on Wednesday evening.

The 16-year-old driver from Montreal was arrested after she drove into the house, police said. Ottawa paramedics said the girl was taken to hospital in stable condition.

An Ottawa Fire Services spokesman said fire crews responded at 10:10 last night and went back to the home to structurally reinforce it.

The driver was due to appear in court on Thursday.

CRASH SOUNDED 'LIKE AN EXPLOSION'

Martorana said he and his family were distraught by the crash and emergency response.

"It was very overwhelming. This whole street was covered by fire, ambulance and police."

The residents of the home were uninjured. Neighbours said they have four young children and were packing up their things because we couldn't stay in the house.

“Last night the only information that we were able to obtain is that it was a police chase and they did stop the chase once they hit the neighbourhood,” Martorana said.

Jamie Van Dusen, who lives next door to the house that was hit, said the crash woke him up and "sounded like an explosion."

"There was an ungodly scene. The police were here within seconds…it was like a scene out of a movie," he said.

Van Dusen says the teenage driver was immediately handcuffed by police, then about half an hour later, taken to an ambulance.

“I couldn’t believe she walked out of it on her own steam. It must have been adrenaline.”

Van Dusen says fire crews have told him to avoid walking between the two houses, until further inspection of the damaged property is done.