Drunken driver crashes into house, severs gas line, police say

MADISON, Wis. — Two Madison residents were woken up early Tuesday morning after a Stoughton woman drunkenly crashed a car into their home on Madison’s far east side, police said.

A witness told police they saw a car speeding around 2 a.m. in the 3200 block of Portage Road, then heard tires squealing and a very loud boom, according to a release.

The car left the roadway and slammed into a home, causing significant damage to the house and severing a natural gas line, investigators said.

The home’s two occupants were sleeping, but they awoke to the house shaking and a strong odor of natural gas, according to the release. When they went outside, they could see a car on its roof on their lawn, with its engine and other pieces of the car scattered nearby.

Two passengers, both Madison men, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. The driver, 23-year-old Mary R. Owen, of Stoughton, told police she had been drinking at a bar before the crash.

Owen faces a tentative charge of operating while intoxicated, causing injury. She was also cited for unreasonable and imprudent speed.

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