Beaver County home hit by car for second time in less than 3 years; driver charged with DUI

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. — A driver is facing DUI charges are crashing into a home in Beaver County early Friday.

Zane Woelfel was asleep inside his 7th Avenue Beaver Falls home around 1:15 a.m. Friday when he was abruptly woken up.

“I heard a loud crash, like, I don’t even know how to explain it. Just ripping, shredding, tearing in the middle of the night,” he said.

A black Jaguar sedan was sitting where his front porch used to be.

“I woke up and jumped up,” he explained. “I thought the tree out back maybe fell down, but then I was like, ‘no that’s not what it was.’”

At that moment, Woelfel knew what happened. He’d already been through this nightmare before in August 2020.

“We honestly can’t believe it. Like, I feel like I’m still sleeping or something like that,” he said. “I never thought that would happen again. I was blown away.”

According to Woelfel, that crash caused nearly $20,000 worth of damage to his home.

He said this latest crash was not as bad, but in the six years he’s lived here, his house has been hit twice. Two of his neighbors have experienced the same.

“We’d like to see a guard rail put up here, a traffic light, something,” he said. “These houses have all been hit a couple times. There are kids here. This is a bus stop. Something just to help.”

Meanwhile, Beaver Falls Police said Jemal Witherspoon, 44, was behind the wheel of the Jaguar that crashed.

The police report states he and a man in the car with him tried to run from the scene of the crash.

According to witnesses who spoke to police, both men were seen drinking in a bar before the wreck.

Witherspoon now faces a series of charges including DUI, possession of marijuana, causing an accident involving damage, and more.

“I’m just glad everybody’s safe,” said Woelfel. “That’s the biggest thing with me. At the end of the day, this stuff all can be rebuilt. You can’t replace somebody.”

Beaver Falls police said the passenger was also detained and will receive charges of public drunkenness and possession of crack cocaine via summons.

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