Officers tracked down a pickup truck that crashed into a home in Wilmington, Massachusetts, and then drove off Thursday, and arrested two men inside, authorities said.
Both men were arrested on drug charges, and one was arrested on a series of driving charges as well, including hit-and-run and driving under the influence, Wilmington police said Friday.
The truck destroyed the porch of a home on Shawsheen Avenue about 5:30 p.m., police said, and narrowly missed a family in the next room. The crash also damaged the family's two cars. The truck fled the scene but it didn't take long for authorities to find it nearby, along with two men standing outside it.
The driver was identified as Timothy Fortin, a 31-year-old from Holyoke suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Police said Fortin's uncle -- Robert Dupont, a 54-year-old from Wilmington -- was arrested on charges of drug possession.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
A nearby surveillance camera caught the pick-up truck speeding by and then the sound of impact.
"I immediately just screamed oh my god," neighbor Ashley Ferchak recalled. “I was in my backyard and I heard a big bang and ran to my front yard and saw the truck in the porch, and then called 911.”
"I was worried about the people in the house because they usually sit outside on their patio," neighbor Bobby Hand said. "I just thought they would've been outside on the patio and they weren’t."
On the other side of the patio wall sat a family including a 9-month-old baby. Although shaken, they are okay, neighbors said.
Both Fortin and Dupont were taken to Lahey Clinic, where they were treated and released Thursday, police said. They appeared in Woburn District Court Friday where not guilty pleas were entered on their behalf.
According to the police report, Fortin was driving and both men were intoxicated. An officer alleges Fortin tried to get rid of what looked like crack cocaine. When the two were taken to the hospital, Fortin was allegedly so out of control that he had to be medically sedated. A blood test showed he was drunk and had cocaine and fentanyl in his system.
