SUV slams into Rhawnhurst home, 3 injured

RHAWNHURST -- Three people were sent to the hospital after an SUV slammed into a home in Philadelphia's Rhawnhurst section Monday afternoon.

65-year-old Ceil Grandinetti says she was stopped at the traffic light at Castor Avenue and Loney Street around 5:35 p.m. when she says a blue Jeep came right towards the path of her Subaru.

"And I tried to swerve out of the way and I couldn't. She just made like a real wide right turn, hit me head-on, bounced off me, and went right through the house," Grandinetti said.

Police say the Jeep, being driven by a 24-year-old woman, went up a handicap ramp and right through the door of the home where a 19-year-old special needs teenager, Bianca Leiva, was with her caretaker.

Her father Hector Leiva was in the kitchen next door having dinner when they heard a loud boom.

"We got scared cause it was such a loud boom. The impact was so hard, the house shook. We ran to see if we can rescue the child and her caretaker," Leiva said through a translator.

Mark Brenfleck was riding in the back seat of his aunt Ceil' s car.

He too was shaken, but alright and ran in to see about the people inside the house.

He found the caretaker pinned underneath the Jeep.

He told Action News what happened next:

"So these two men are trying to get her out. The woman grabs them by the shirt and she said, 'Help, help me!' They couldn't move the big brick things.

I'm thankful that I got some surge of energy and I was able to move those boulders and get them out of the way and then pulled the caretaker out. She was crying, 'Where is my baby, where is my baby?' cause she was the nurse that takes care of the autistic child."

The caretaker, the 19-year-old autistic teenager and the driver of the Jeep were all taken to Aria Health Torresdale where they were all reported to be in stable condition.

That was great news for Mark and his aunt.

"My car can be fixed, nobody's lost their life, that was the important thing," Ceil said.

"Grateful that everyone is stable and that's all that matters, that's the big picture," Mark said.

While police have ruled out intoxication, they still don't have a clear picture from the driver as to why she lost control of her Jeep.