'There was debris that was on her bed': Car crashes through Nanaimo house, narrowly misses child

Victoria -

Police are investigating after a vehicle plowed into a house in Nanaimo, B.C., narrowly missing a nine-year-old girl.

The crash happened at approximately 10:30 p.m. Sunday, when the driver lost control of her vehicle while heading southbound on the Old Island Highway.

The car sailed over an embankment and struck a parked car before travelling across a lawn and into the house near the corner of Highland Boulevard and Cosgrove Crescent.

"There was a number of people in the home and nobody was injured," said Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Const. Gary O'Brien. "The car came to rest about six feet from where a young girl was sleeping."

Police say the driver was taken to hospital with minor injuries. A dog that was in the car was not injured.

An impaired driving investigation has been launched, O'Brien said.

An impaired driving investigation has been launched in the wake of the crash, according to the Nanaimo RCMP. (CTV News)

Jeff Heaslip says he got home from work around 9:45 p.m. and was just getting into bed when the car crashed through his daughter's bedroom.

"By the time I put my head on the pillow, I heard a crash and then went and looked out the window and heard a big crash," he said Monday.

Heaslip thought a tree had fallen on the house.

"I came into my daughter's room and that's where the car was," he said. "There was debris that was on her bed. I grabbed her and then told everybody to get out of the house."

Police say the driver was taken to hospital with minor injuries. (Jeff Heaslip)

The vehicle remained lodged in the side of the home Monday morning.

"At this point, the vehicle is still in the house," O'Brien said. "Fortis and [BC] Hydro and fire responded. They shut off all the utilities to the home. They're just figuring out now how to safely get the car out of the house."

Heaslip and his four children are staying in a hotel until engineers can assess the damage to the building.

"We're trying to gather up as much of our belongings as we could," said Heaslip, who thanked the community and first responders for their support.