Minivan crashes into Anacostia home

Frances Croon says she loved the front porch of her home in Anacostia, with its white rocking chairs and flowers beckoning from the front yard. But after seeing cars jump the curb onto her grass multiple times, she rarely used it.

Late Thursday night, she realized her caution was justified.

A minivan smashed through the front wall of the house and into Croon's living room, obliterating the porch and the rockers that sat there. The front door and windows installed earlier this year have disappeared. Dust, broken glass and debris are everywhere. And the African sculptures and other artwork that had been on proud display in the living room are badly damaged.

"Somebody's always running into my house," said Croon, 70, who remembers errant drivers on the lawn from her childhood. She also recalls when a car lurched across the yard and clipped a corner of the little house a couple of years ago. "I guess it's the way my house is situated. I'm not sure."

The house is located in the 2600 block of Martin Luther King Avenue, a busy artery through Southeast Washington, just north of the intersection with Eaton Road and south of Matthews Memorial Baptist Church.

Croon, interviewed Friday morning, said she was watching television in her upstairs bedroom when the gold Honda minivan barreled through her front wall.

The vehicle, which had Virginia license plates, had been reported stolen, a D.C. police spokeswoman said. Police arrested Tyrone Stewart, 19, and charged him with unauthorized use of a vehicle.

No one was injured, and no additional details were immediately available.

The D.C. fire department sent inspectors to assess the stability of the house, Croon said, and utility crews were called to turn off the utilities. She was told she would have to seek shelter elsewhere until repairs were made to the house, which is where Croon was raised and where she has lived since her mother died in 1987.

Croon said authorities contacted the Red Cross on her behalf to see whether the organization could arrange temporary shelter, but was told it responds only in cases of fire, flood or other natural disasters. City officials then offered to find a bed in a homeless shelter.

"A shelter's not for me," Croon said. "So I went over and stayed with a friend."