Truck crashes into bedroom, Hays mother grateful toddler wasn’t home

HAYS, Kan. (KWCH) - A Hays home sustained heavy damage, but a mother is grateful after a pickup rolled into her 2-year-old son’s bedroom. She’s relieved because the family wasn’t home when it happened.

Hays police said about 10 a.m. Friday, a man was driving his pickup on North Main Street and speeding in the neighborhood when he lost control, hit a curb and rolled the truck into Laruen Schillechi’s home. Two hours earlier, Schillechi took her son to daycare.

“I was at work and I got a phone call. I thought it was from a client, and it turned out it was the Hays Police Department,” she said. “And they started to explain that basically, a truck had wrecked into my house.”

Schillechi said due to a remodeling project, nearly $8,000 worth of her possessions were being stored in the toddler’s room. The crash destroyed those items.

“I had three TVs in there, one that was mounted to the wall. All of my son’s stuff was in there,” she said. “Besides about half of his clothes, every single one of his toys were ruined. But luckily, those things can be replaced. A life cannot.”

Police said the truck’s driver was cited for reckless driving. Contractors are working to secure Schillechi’s home and begin to fix the damage.

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