Truck Hits Home; Woman Dies In Crash

Lorry Porter returned to her North Side home Wednesday night to find it boarded up. The south wall was caved in - after a pickup truck rammed into it.

Porter was suddenly homeless. But when she learned a woman died in the accident, her first thoughts were of the victim.

“I feel terrible about that lady dying,” Porter said.

Judith Thomas, 50, of 2122 W. Cleveland, died after her car collided with the pickup at the corner of Ash and Cleveland, police said.

The other driver, who suffered minor injuries, drove her pickup into Porter’s home during the accident about 11:20 a.m. As a result, one wall of the house was knocked off the foundation.

Porter, 46, wasn’t home at the time and didn’t hear about the crash until hours later, when she watched a TV news show at a friend’s house.

“The next thing we knew my house was on the screen,” she said.

Porter said she had planned to move away from the busy intersection when her lease expires at the end of May. Now she’s forced to start house-hunting right away.

Her electricity and water were shut off Wednesday and she planned to spend the night with relatives.

Police said Thomas was driving west on Cleveland and had pulled into the intersection to cross Ash when a pickup headed south on Ash struck her car.

Thomas’ car spun around and crashed into a light pole. Thomas, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was nearly thrown into the car’s back window, police said.

She was taken to a Spokane hospital, where she later died.

After seeing the wreck on TV, Porter rushed home to see the damage firsthand.

Most of her belongings weren’t damaged. The pickup smashed one wall, making her garden and a tree stump part of Porter’s living room.

Her daughter, Janie Cron, was relieved Porter wasn’t watching any grandchildren at the house.

“I’m just glad she wasn’t home,” Cron said. , DataTimes