N.C. Man Critically Injured After Car Strikes House

MOUNT AIRY --

A driver who had gotten behind the wheel after allegedly consuming about a dozen beers was taken to a Winston-Salem hospital with severe injuries after his compact car struck a mobile home near Pine Ridge Sunday night.

Jose Pinto had been visiting another residence in the area just before the crash. “People there told me they were trying to convince him not to drive,” said Trooper Robert Boyes of the N.C. Highway Patrol, who investigated the wreck.

But after assuring them that he would not get behind the wheel, Pinto, 27, of 115 Gilda Lane, Mount Airy, did anyway and sped away, the trooper continued.

His 2000 Dodge Neon allegedly was traveling eastbound around 75 mph when it subsequently went out of control, struck a fence and then the single-wide mobile home of the Jason Warner family at 869 Maple Grove Church Road about 11 p.m.

Monday afternoon, Pinto, who was alone in the car, was in the Intensive Care Unit at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, where he was listed in critical but stable condition. He suffered severe head injuries as well as an injury to his left hand that was pinned between the vehicle and trailer, Boyes said.

“It was just an incredibly hard hit,” the trooper added, saying that among the types of accidents involving a vehicle striking a structure, “it’s one of the most serious I’ve seen.”

The sound of the impact also caused a stir among nearby residents.

“I just heard a noise and I couldn’t tell what it was,” said Bernell Holder of 980 Maple Grove Church Road. “It was just like a big noise — a boom.

“It scared me,” added Holder, who was inside her home at the time. “I kept hearing these sirens, then I opened the door. I just seen all these lights.

“They had the road blocked.”

The car had hit the end of the mobile home, which sits parallel to the roadway. “It was lodged partly underneath the trailer,” Boyes said.

None of the home’s occupants were injured by the collision, although Warner told authorities that he planned to take his 2-year-old daughter in for a check-up as a precaution.

Meanwhile, fire and rescue crews faced a tough task in trying to extricate the badly hurt man from the vehicle.

The extent of Pinto’s injuries prompted local paramedics to have him transported to the Winston-Salem trauma center by helicopter, according to John Shelton, director of the Surry County Emergency Medical Service.

However, the helicopter was unable to complete the trip due to adverse weather conditions, Shelton said, and Pinto was taken to Winston-Salem by ground transport.

The accident also caused problems for the Warner residence. “It knocked it off the foundation,” the EMS official said of the impact’s effect on the mobile home. “It moved it about 24 inches, probably.”

The trooper said the underpinning was damaged along with the home’s plumbing, and its electricity was cut off as a precaution. Accompanying safety concerns led to the residence being temporarily condemned until it could be inspected.

The fear was that the structure’s wiring might have been put into a bind from the collision, thereby causing a fire hazard, Shelton said, adding that the home was pushed against a service panel at its rear.

This led to the trailer being checked by a building inspector and an electrician on Monday “to make sure there were no impingements that would make it unsafe,” Shelton said.

No electrical impingements were found, and the residence was ruled habitable again on Monday, officials said.

Noting that both alcohol and speed are thought to be factors in the wreck, Boyes said that he has not spoken to Pinto yet due to the man’s condition.

The trooper said that based on his investigation so far, the man consumed about a 12-pack of beer that he had taken with him to the residence he was visiting.