‘My kid could have been killed’: SUV wrecks into Castle Hayne home

CASTLE HAYNE, NC (WWAY) — Early Saturday morning at around 2:30 a.m. the driver of a silver Chevrolet Tahoe careened into a home on Old Mill Road in Castle Hayne. No one inside the home was injured at the time of the crash, but the owner of the home— Tammy Boyett—said it was a close call for her son and their two dogs who were inside. 

“As he’s walking in, of course the house is coming in and the dogs were laid on the couch at the front window and they got thrown into the kitchen area,” Boyett said.  

Next door neighbor Donna Wood was not at the home at the time of the crash, but said she was shocked when she returned home. 

“Then the closer I got, pulled toward the driveway, it looked like a bomb had gone off in the front of their house,” Wood recalled. “I was just very emotional, because all I could think about is ‘are they okay?”  

Wood said she has lived in her home for 22 years and that she has previously asked the NCDOT for help in controlling speeds on the road. 

“Years ago, when I first moved in, my son was just a teenager at that time, but we asked about speed bumps,” Wood explained. “You know, why can’t we get speed bumps? There’s other neighborhoods that have through speed bumps. But we were told because it’s where the emergency vehicles come through, you know, this or that.”  

WWAY reached out to the NCDOT, they stated that speed bumps would need to be installed by the HOA. Since the neighborhood does not have an HOA, the NCDOT stated that it’s up to the residents to fund, install and maintain any potential speed bumps.  

In the meantime, Boyett said that her house of nearly two decades is likely to be demolished.  

“So my house is actually secured, and the structure is good right now, but most likely what we’re looking at is a house that’s going to have to be demolished,” Boyett noted. 

Boyett expressed that regardless of what happens, she hopes that the crash will be the catalyst for change.  

“My kid could have been killed, or the dogs, you know, it’s a lot. But they need to do something on this road to get people to slow down,” Boyett explained. 

WWAY reached out to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, who arrested the driver according to New Hanover County Fire Rescue, but we have not yet received a response as to the identity of the driver, or any potential charges.