Homeowner faces city fines after suspected DWI driver damages house
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Chris Newby parks his cars in his garage and driveway, but last month, a stranger parked his car just a few feet away in Newby’s guest room.
“It sounds like a plane hit the house, I mean, I felt like I hit the ceiling," Newby said. “The whole house just shook.”
It was Jan. 19 at 2:30 a.m. He was upstairs sleeping when the car barreled into a spare bedroom right below
“Basically, there's an entire car, right here inside the bedroom,” Newby said.
Newby said he tried to rescue the driver but couldn't get to him through the rubble. Emergency crews did and police then arrested the driver on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to an APD police report.
The Honda made a mess of the spare room. “Looked like a tornado hit it. I mean, the entire room was just crunched,” Newby said.
Despite all the damage, Newby wasn't injured. But he did experience more of an insult to injury when, about 10 days later, he went to check his mail and found a letter from the city. It was for code violations for the status of his house. Even worse, the letter was dated the day of the crash.
“There's two different violations,” Newby said. “One for having a hole in my house and one for having no window.”
The letter explained Newby had 30 days to get his house in order or face consequences, including as much as a $2,000 fine per violation, per day.
“It felt tone deaf to me,” Newby said. “I'm in violation for being a victim.”
Matthew Noriega is a division manager with the Austin Code Department. He said the Austin Fire Department notified the code department about Newby’s house.
Noriega explained the citation is the city’s policy and procedure, with the ultimate goal of ensuring safety.
“This was a catastrophic incident and they wanted to ensure that the homeowners were safe and the building was safe,” Noriega said.
Violation notices, he said, are also issued after other catastrophic events, like fires. But with all violations, the city policy includes a chance for leeway with the time given to come up to code.
“If an extension is needed, we will give them that extension,” Noriega explained. “We work with the owners or management.”
Newby made contact with a code inspector who he said told him he could have extra time to make repairs. Even so, the Austin native is disappointed.
“Austin is kind of going against me,” he said. "It feels a little less like home every day.”
Newby said the driver’s insurance is paying for the repairs, which should be completed around the end of February.
According to the Austin Code Department's annual report, in fiscal year 2022, the department investigated more than 28,000 code complaints and 86% of properties achieved voluntary compliance.