Two Crashes Rattle Wesley Heights

On Foxhall Road in Northwest Washington, two cars crashed on residential properties within a few hours Saturday, leaving residents of the usually quiet Wesley Heights neighborhood wondering what caused such an unlikely coincidence.

About 4 p.m., a man lost control of his blue convertible, which struck a curb, flipped in the air and landed on the pebbled driveway of an old brick manse, neighbors said. A few hours later and about a half-mile down the road, a Honda crashed into the front door of a brick house across from the German Embassy.

"Can you believe it?" asked Karen O'Neill, who lives next door to where the convertible crashed, near Foxhall and Garfield Street. "It's normally pretty quiet here."

The man in that accident was in his 60s and had an "unspecified medical episode" that led him to lose control of his car, emergency services spokesman Alan Etter said. The man was taken to George Washington University Hospital with "traumatic injuries," and his condition was not known, Etter said.

Police and fire officials did not provide details of the second crash, but residents said it occurred on Foxhall near Reservoir Road about 7:30 or 8 p.m. A Honda ran off the road and crashed into the front of a house, taking out the front door and a garage wall, neighbors said.

"All we saw was a gaping hole in the front of the house," Ken Kruvant said.

The homeowner, a patent lawyer, was on vacation over the weekend, Kruvant said. He is to return today -- and will come home to a new front door.

"Somebody moved the section of a wood fence and just stuck it in the front of the house," Kruvant said.