Larchwood, Iowa — A Sioux Falls man was taken to the hospital after a freak accident in Larchwood on Tuesday, February 2, 2021.
The Iowa State Patrol reports that about 10:20 p.m., 25-year-old Irrael Hildalgo of Sioux Falls was driving a 2013 Toyota northbound on Highway 9 in Larchwood. Westbound Highway 9 jogs north for one mile and at the point of the accident, curves back west.
Lyon County Sheriff Stewart Vander Stoep tells us more.
(as said:) “Completely missed the curve and ended up in the roof of a house. It catapulted off the road and into a ditch and then into the house. It landed on the roof. The car basically went through the roof and then inside the house. Speed was definitely a factor in it, of course, and the house is pretty much totaled. The car is in bad shape. Thankfully no major injuries. The person walked away. He was sent to the hospital, but he’s since been released.”
The report says that the car vaulted over the stub of Holder Street. The Sheriff says he’s never seen anything like it.
(as said)”It was just like a scene right out of the old Dukes of Hazzard where that car traveled 125 feet in the air to the land there. So it was off the ground for 125 feet. It’s a unique situation. I’ve never seen anything like it before and yeah, I thought after 30-some years you’d see everything with car accidents, but this was a unique one.”
The Lyon County Ambulance took Hildalgo to Avera McKennan Hospital, but as Vander Stoep says, he has since been released. We are told no one was inside the house.
No charges have been filed, but the accident remains under investigation, according to the state patrol.
The troopers report that the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and the Larchwood Fire Department and Rescue Squad assisted them with the response to the accident.
Photo courtesy of Amy Hettinga
