The family whose house was hit by a speeding Jeep Cherokee Laredo on Dec. 30 is still reeling from the accident.
"If he wouldn't have hit that corner, he would have come all the way into our house. We would all be dead," said Daniel Mosbacher, owner of the house on the corner of Northridge and Ridgecrest streets.
He explained how his whole family, including his mother, Lillian Clark, who was visiting from Minden, were in the living room when the Jeep plowed into it. "My mother was sitting on the couch by the wall, and when the Jeep hit, it busted the frame in on the couch."
His sons, Austin, 3 and Christian, 5, were playing with toy soldiers on the floor when a Jeep driven by 25-year-old Kyle Higday ran the stop sign on Ridgecrest and slammed into the blue house. "I heard a screeching sound and bam! He was barreling about 60 -- that's what witnesses told us."
Two weeks after the accident, the Mosbachers' house is patched with plywood and tarps. Farmers Insurance appointed Reel Construction to look at the damage and patch the 4-by-7-foot hole in the wall. Now they are waiting for Higday to cover his part of the deal.
Higday, who was arrested on suspicion of speeding, driving on a suspended license with no insurance and violation of a stop sign, was released on his own recognizance the day of the accident, according to a Carson City Jail spokesman. He is relying on his sister's insurance to cover the damage. She owns the Jeep he was driving, according to Mosbacher.
"Their liability insurance is only up to $10,000," said Mosbacher. "It's going cost more than that."
He's afraid he may have to sue the sister to have the damage paid for.
"We wanted to sell this house and move," he said. "Now we'll have to take care of all this before we put it up for sale this spring."
Mosbacher has asked the city to put in speed bumps and install two new stops signs on Northridge Street -- making the intersection of Northridge and Ridgecrest a four-way stop. He says there have been five accidents in the two years they have lived there. Unfortunately, he says, "the city won't do anything."
He says he was told to take a petition signed by 20 neighbors to a city supervisors meeting. "I talked to my neighbors -- they're all ready to act," he said.
Mosbacher says he hopes the city does something soon about speeding.
"I'm going to see an attorney, and if we have another accident, I'm going to place the blame on the city," he said. "It's going to be a lot cheaper for them to put in the speed bumps and two new stops signs than to have another accident and a lawsuit."
A study conducted by Nu-Metrics traffic analyzers found that 95 vehicles passed the Mosbachers' house at speeds higher than 70 mph between Nov. 14 and 21. That section of Northridge is a 25 mph zone.
Meanwhile, cars continue to zip by Mosbacher's house, where his sons have returned to their play on the floor.
"They're flying through here. We're sitting ducks."
Mosbacher says he fears another accident.
"I can't sleep at night. When I hear a screech, I run. It's terrible."
