MONTREAL -- It was not the wakeup call Melissa Malo had in mind.
But when Malo’s phone rang minutes after dropping her kids off at school and a neighbour informed her that there had been an accident at her apartment, Malo was grateful for having left home early, only 15 minutes before a car smashed through her apartment wall.
“’There’s a car in your kitchen,’ he said and I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Her two sons, aged eight and nine, had a school event at the Botanical Gardens Monday and they had all left home for school a little bit early. Malo explained that on normal school days her children sit on a bench inside the apartment, located right below the kitchen window, and get dressed for school at right about the same time the accident occurred.
“They could have been seriously injured,” she said.
“I found bricks in my dining room. The bricks must’ve flown through the house.”
It’s not the first time there has been this kind of incident at the apartment, located at the corner of Lacasse and St-Antoine Sts.
Gilles, who declined to give his last name, lived in the apartment for 13 years before Malo moved in last year. He said the same thing has happened three other times, although he never got used to it.
“It’s a surprise. You imagine the foundation falls down and you look outside and you see a car in the wall. It sounds like the house falls down.”
Gilles said the apartment is situated on a busy corner and now that the city has closed numerous exit ramps, more drivers are rushing down St-Antoine. Construction on Atwater Ave. is also slowing down traffic and creating drivers that are in too much of a hurry.
“People drive too fast and they don’t check. This one crosses the street, another one can’t see and POW - accident,” he said.
Malo said she understands people can be running late and traffic and construction are frustrating but people need to be patient and plan to leave home a few minutes earlier.
“Your time and your life are not more precious than others, so just be careful,” she said.
