Sleeping with parents may have saved local toddler’s life

UPDATE: The El Paso Sheriff’s Office told ABC-7 it has a person of interest in the search for a driver that hit an East El Paso home.

No arrests have been made as of yet, said EPSO. It added the case remains under investigation.

ORIGINAL: An El Paso couple is coming to terms with what happened over the weekend.

Allowing their toddler to sleep with them Friday night may have saved the little girl’s life.

The Sheriff’s Office says the search continues for the driver of a White Ford F-150, who hit the family’s home causing more than $30,000 damage … and then fled the scene. The truck should have damage on the front end.

The impact was so strong, it sent one of the family’s cars inside the house, puncturing the wall next to their toddler’s crib.

ABC-7 not only spoke with the couple whose home was damaged, but also spoke with their neighbors, who said this isn’t the first time something like this has happened there.

“It sounded like a bomb went off in the house,” said Angel Gamez, who along with his wife Fabby was rudely awakened at about 1:45 Saturday morning by the sound of a truck driving through their rock wall, over their landscaping and into their garage. “The fear was immense. We couldn’t comprehend what was going on at the time. Very, very scary moment for me and my family.”

Gamez said rocks from the rock wall sprayed into their front window and door like bullets.

“I came up, looked out my window and I saw the truck backing out,” said Gamez, who was asked if he though the driver was intoxicated. “Obviously, obviously … I don’t think anybody in their right mind would just drive into somebody’s house.”

Tragedy was averted because the Gamez’s 20-month old daughter Camila was sleeping with them upstairs in their bedroom that night. However, her father’s car was hit by that truck when it entered the driveway, causing it to come through the wall and into the nursery, right next to where Camila’s crib was located.

“Just to think, that she could have been there,” Camila’s mother, Fabiola Gamez, told ABC-7 through tears. “It’s just a very, very scary situation. Him fleeing is such a coward thing to do.”

Neighbor Joe Ortega said he hopes the Sheriff’s Office catches the driver, because this isn’t the first time something like this has happened on their street.

“One of my cars has been hit twice,” Ortega said. “Once on the street. The next time it was hit we had it off on the driveway and it was hit again.”

The Gamez’s reached out to the city to see what can be done. Among the ideas are more lighting, warning signs and possible speed humps.

If you see a White Ford F-150 with a missing front grill or damage, call the Sheriff’s Office.