‘Something needs to be done.’ | Fort Worth residents demand action after series of crashes on East Berry Street

FORT WORTH, Texas — A Fort Worth man narrowly escaped serious injury Sunday evening when a car crashed through his bedroom window and pushed him out of bed, the latest in a series of crashes plaguing a residential stretch of East Berry Street.

The crash occurred on East Berry Street when a red Jeep went off the road and struck a home, according to Fort Worth police.

Shanequa Jones was sitting in her father’s driveway nearby when the incident happened.

“All you heard was a boom, boom, boom as you see the car coming up through my mom’s yard and actually going inside those people’s window,” Jones said.

A man inside the home said he was in bed when the vehicle broke through his bedroom window and wall. He was transported to a hospital but said he was OK despite the violent intrusion.

Police said the Jeep driver was also injured. Investigators believe the Jeep was struck by another vehicle on East Berry Street before losing control and crashing into the home. A dark sedan took off, according to police.

Jones said the close call left her shaken.

“I was just thinking, oh my gosh this could have been us, this could have been us, this could have been anybody,” she said.

Sunday’s crash marks at least the second such incident on the street in recent years. A few years ago, a car flipped into another neighbor’s yard across the street.

The recurring crashes have left residents calling for action. Just one month before Sunday’s incident, another crash occurred about a mile east on East Berry Street near Village Creek, where a vehicle tore through a resident’s yard and flipped out of control.

In that August incident, surveillance video from Joe Food Mart captured a black car flipping before striking a parked vehicle in the lot. According to a police report, the teenage driver admitted to traveling 50 mph — 15 mph over the posted 35 mph speed limit — when he told officers his brakes stopped working.

Timothy Clark, whose mother’s yard was damaged in the earlier crash, said fixtures were uprooted from the ground.

“We’re getting tired of it. I mean it’s over and over,” Clark said at the time.

Residents said the crashes have become so common that they’ve caused damage ranging from knocked-down light poles to uprooted trees and damaged front porches.

“Not only am I concerned for my father but also for the kids and the other residents on the block, so, I mean, something needs to be done,” Shanequa Jones said.

Residents blame the crashes on speeding, driver inattention and lack of enforcement. Reginald Jones said he wants the city to address the problem.

“To me, this is sickening. Because they could do something about it and they won’t,” he said.

The city of Fort Worth said East Berry Street is part of the city’s future planning process. A spokesperson pointed to the recently adopted East Berry Corridor Plan, though city officials describe it as a long-term plan rather than an immediate solution.

City officials also pointed to an online application for traffic calming requests.