A 2-month-old baby was taken by ambulance to Newman Regional Health after a Dodge Intrepid drove into a bedroom at 2217 Prairie St. around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday.
The driver of the vehicle, Abdirizak Dagane, 25, 2239 Prairie St., also was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he was treated and released.
The baby, Dawson C. Halfmann, was in a crib in the bedroom when the car driven by Dagane crashed into the room. Dawson later was transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital, where he was treated and released according to Emporia Police Officer Larry Clay.
Apparently, Dagane was driving out of the driveway at his home onto Prairie Street, Clay said, when he lost control of the car and veered back toward the quadplexes.
“Basically, he turned out of the driveway and lost control, and came back down here,” Clay said, pointing to the bedroom.
A witness to the crash, Lyon County Emergency Preparedness Director Rick Frevert, said that he was driving on Prairie Street when he saw the Dagane vehicle leave the roadway and drive southwest across the sidewalk in front of the complex. He watched it speed through the yard and become at least partially airbound at the driveway before it crashed into the bedroom of the building to the south.
The car lodged almost entirely inside the room. It struck an adult bed and pushed into the baby’s crib, which seemed to fold up like an accordion.
“I was definitely concerned somebody was going to be hurt if they were in that room,” Frevert said.
Frevert tried to maneuver over and around the car but couldn’t reach the baby. The baby’s mother, Misty Landis, 23, 2217 Prairie St., did get into the room and bring out her son.
Two others inside the apartment, Larry D. Pope Jr., 21, and Teresa Pope, 41, both of 2217 Prairie St., were not injured. Dagane’s passenger, Abdirahman Gahnug Dagane, 18, received minor injuries and refused transportation to the hospital.