Uninvited guests on West Country Club Lane

A loud "boom" woke up Claribel Ramirez's household about 2:45 a.m. on February 4. "When we came out of our rooms, the whole house was like in a cloud of smoke. All seven of us, including my husband, my teenagers, my 76-year-old dad, and dogs were in shock. There was wall debris everywhere in the kitchen and dining area all the way to the living room."

A black SUV traveling on West County Club Lane by North Broadway crashed into Ramirez's Escondido home. Then the driver, allegedly on parole, backed up the SUV.

"My son said he heard a guy say, 'oh oh,' and the driver tried to reverse more, but he got stuck on our tree in the back yard."

Ramirez's husband ran outside and noticed all four of the SUV’s doors were "wide open" with nobody inside.

Ramirez, 36, works in the medical field. We spoke on the phone on February 15. She direct-messaged video footage and photographs of the aftermath, which depicts a 15- to 20-foot wide hole on the side of their home that separated the kitchen and dining area from the covered patio in the backyard.

"The contractor said that our heavy pool table in the patio saved us."

In the photos and video footage, pieces from the decimated wall and the black and green pool table were scattered throughout the patio and where the family of seven gather for dinner.

"That night, I noticed two bloodstains in our kitchen. Maybe he or his passenger tried to get out before reversing into our backyard."

"Did anyone see the driver or possible passengers?" I asked.

"My husband ran outside to one corner, and my son ran to the other corner, and nobody was in sight. They were gone. Our neighbors didn't see anyone, either."

Ramirez's neighbor, Claudine Montes, heard a loud screech followed by two loud booms that early Thursday morning. "It was the fence and then the house. Then [I heard] the sound of a damaged car trying to limp away. I had trouble calling 911 because I was so shaky."

Ramirez says the Escondido Police Department arrived "about five minutes" after the crash, then the ambulance and fire truck pulled up. Nobody from the household nor the two dogs were hurt.

"The police officer said the driver was on parole, and he was driving his ex-girlfriend's SUV."

Montes' and Ramirez's homes are feet away from the West County Club Lane and North Broadway intersection. "I've seen six to eight accidents at that intersection since 2013," says Montes. "Three were fatal, and two of them directly behind my house."

In June 2019, at 6:48 a.m., Escondido Police and Fire responded to a report of "a single-vehicle collision in the 100 block of Country Club Ln between Broadway and Iris Ln.," says the police report. "Officers arrived and found a 2002 Lexus IS430 had impacted a tree. The solo male driver was extricated by fire personnel. The driver was transported to PMC where he died a short time later."

"I've seen two people die when they slammed into a tree directly behind my yard," Montes says. "They cut that tree down now, but it was the only thing stopping those cars from my backyard."

Montes is a 54-year-old education manager who has lived by the "deadly" intersection for eight years. "It makes me consider moving away. I have had windshields end up in my backyard and wonder how long it will be before it's an entire car. And we have bedrooms on that side of the house, so the results [for us] would be fatal."

Just five days before Christmas,2020, a 20-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman, both from Escondido, reportedly died after their vehicles collided at the same intersection.

"We were the first ones on the scene," Ramirez says. "I told my husband, the next time is going to be a car into our house, and look what happened. It's because there are no lights, and it's super dark at night."

"People use this area of North Broadway to race," says Montes. "Everyone knows it, and late at night, you can hear the cars revving and racing down the street."

Ramirez agrees. "And you can still hear people racing at night, and now it's like 'oh my God, we're just waiting for that impact again."

Escondido residents suggested adding deterrents between their homes and the intersection that's less than a mile east of the I-15.

"Now I'm fighting with my HOA because I wanna put up a brick wall and boulders," says Ramirez. "And they're saying if I put up a brick wall and boulders, and somebody crashes into them and dies, I'm responsible."

As this article goes to print, Ramirez says that the police department hadn’t updated her on the "parolee's" identity, nor if he's been caught.

"The contractor said that it's going to take them about seven months to repair our home."