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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Car crashes into Spokane Valley family’s yard for eighth time

A car went through the fence of Michael and Michelle Yarbrough’s home, pictured here Friday, for the eighth time July 17. The driver suffered a medical emergency and lost control at the top of the Carnahan Hill. (Pia Hallenberg)

Michael and Michelle Yarbrough got to feel safe in their own front yard for just a couple of weeks.

They live on the northeast corner of East Eighth Avenue and South Carnahan Road, and over the years they’ve had a number of cars crash through their fence. To help protect themselves and their yard, they lobbied Spokane Valley to put Jersey barriers along the corner, creating an extra layer of protection outside their chain-link fence.

The barriers were put in place in early July and they held up until around 10 a.m. July 17.

That’s when a car came hurtling off Carnahan Hill, blew through the intersection and pulverized one of the Jersey barriers, sending baseball-size chunks of concrete raining over the Yarbroughs’ home.

The car tore out the chain-link fence closest to Eighth Avenue, leveled an apple tree and flew through the second fence by their driveway, rolled, and landed in the neighbor’s chain-link fence.

“I thought the neighbor’s tree had fallen on the house because of all the noise,” Michelle Yarbrough said. “Then I heard Michael yelling, ‘It’s happened again’ and I knew exactly what he meant.”

It’s the eighth time a car has ended up in their front yard, and this is one of the most destructive crashes yet, causing more than $30,000 in damage to cars, landscaping and two homes.

Paramedics said the driver suffered a medical emergency at the top of the Carnahan Hill and passed out. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed no drugs or alcohol were involved.

A bystander told Michelle Yarbrough the car was going so fast that it became airborne a couple of times speeding down the hill.

Still shaken by the incident, Michelle Yarbrough said she’s certain the car would have hit their house if not for the Jersey barriers.

However, Spokane Valley public works director Eric Guth said the barriers’ main purpose was to delineate the road while the city comes up with a better solution for the crooked intersection.

“The intersection is offset by a 13-foot shift to the west,” Guth said. “Drivers were cutting corners there and driving over private property. The barriers were a temporary measure to fix those issues.”

They ended up serving a secondary purpose by protecting the Yarbroughs’ house from being hit by a runaway car.

After the barriers were put in, some neighbors complained that they’re ugly and have made the intersection impassable for buses and trailers.

Michelle Yarbrough said people sometimes yell at them as they’re driving by.

“It makes me upset that people are mad at us. We are just trying to protect ourselves,” she said.

But Spokane Valley traffic engineer Sean Messner said the barriers don’t impede either buses and trucks.

“We measure for that,” Messner said. “A bus can absolutely get through there.”

Guth said his staff is trying to find a better and more permanent solution for the corner, but he’s uncertain what can be done to stop the crashes.

“We may try to realign the road or put in a sidewalk and a curb,” Guth said. “We don’t know yet.”