Imagine being sound asleep over the weekend, looking forward to a nice, quiet Sunday morning when you’re suddenly awakened by a loud crash. A Deer Park, New York family says that’s exactly what happened to them around 5 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2026, when a 19-year-old drove his car into their house.
Joe and Sheri Wilkonski recounted the scary story to News 12, telling reporters how they originally thought the sound that woke them up was due to their cat knocking something over. However, when Wilkonski started walking down the hall towards the living room, he quickly realized what had actually happened.
According to video footage obtained at the scene, the car went through the front of the house, knocking down a wall and breaking through the door before coming to a stop inside the home.
Everyone involved in the incident, including the driver, was physically unharmed. That being said, News 12 reports that the driver has been taken into custody after being accused of driving while impaired.
The Family Was Shaken but Otherwise Okay
Wilkonski explained to News 12 how he had to be the one to inform his wife about what happened after the pair walked towards the sound of the crash together early Sunday morning. “I opened the bedroom door, looked down the hall, and as my wife was following me, she said, ‘What’s going on?'”
After he assessed the situation, Wilkonski explained that there was a car in the living room. Fortunately, the vehicle just missed the bedroom belonging to the couple’s son. Other than that, there were a few scary moments after the crash when the Wilkonski family said they couldn’t find their cat, but they were later able to safely locate the scared cat down in the basement, where the family pet likely hid after hearing all the ruckus.
An Amityville Man Was Behind the Wheel
Matthew Troche was arrested at the scene after cops reported smelling cannabis on his breath. Upon further investigation, News 12 says officers also discovered a loaded gun as well as a high-capacity magazine. The driver was arraigned the next day and pleaded not guilty to the weapons charges and to driving while ability impaired by drugs, and the judge set bail at $25,000 cash (or $50,000 bond).
While having a car crash into your home sounds pretty terrifying, a 2022 report determined that it wasn’t actually all that uncommon. According to Slate, a man named Rob Reiter built a database to track how often vehicles crash into structures and determined that at least 100 American drivers crash their cars into buildings each day (including both residential and commercial structures).
While that number may sound low in the grand scheme of things, it does highlight just how often these types of accidents happen and how often they end in tragedy. According to the Storefront Safety website, 2,600 people are killed each year as a result of these types of crashes, underscoring just how much worse Wilkonski’s story could’ve ended if things had happened even a little bit differently in their home this past Sunday.