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The Rev. Steve Meyer was preparing his sermon for later that morning in the basement office of his house at 603 Pioneer Drive. His wife, Diane, was asleep in their first-floor bedroom.
“I heard a huge crash right above me,” said Meyer, pastor of Bridge of Life Lutheran Church in Holmen. “I couldn’t imagine what it was.”
A 31-year-old woman later arrested for drunken driving had crashed her white two-door 2008 Toyota Solara through the wall of Meyer’s daughter’s bedroom, according to a Holmen police report released Tuesday.
“The car punched the whole wall in,” Meyer said. “I could see the dust and headlights shining into the hallway.”
His daughter’s bedroom was empty. Katrina, 22, is finishing her final weeks at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.
“Her headboard was smashed by the car. She would have been seriously injured,” Meyer said. “That’s the scariest thing for us.”
After making sure his wife was unharmed, Meyer ran outside to check on the driver, Kelly Kalis of 1008 Greenwood St. Uninjured, she climbed out of the car and told Meyer to call police.
Kalis was arrested and cited for operating while intoxicated, unreasonable and imprudent speed, inattentive driving, failure to stop at a stop sign and reckless driving, according to police reports. She registered a 0.17 percent blood-alcohol concentration and is due in Coulee Region Joint Municipal Court on May 16, police said.
Meyer didn’t know Kalis, who lives about two blocks away. She was talking on her cell phone and driving eastbound on Eastwood Street when she blew through a stop sign at Eastwood Street and Pioneer Drive and drove straight into Meyer’s house, according to police.
The front of the car pushed three feet into the bedroom and pushed Katrina’s furniture across the room. The impact damaged the front concrete step but avoided the foundation. The car was later towed.
The repairs are covered by Meyer’s insurance and expected to be completed next week.
Meyer said he prayed for Kalis and said the collision made him realize how fragile life is.
“For all of us, we get these little wake-up calls,” he said. “It could have been so much worse.”
Anne Jungen can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or ajungen@lacrossetribune.com.
