GRANITE FALLS, Minn. -- A driver suffering from a medical condition blacked out and crashed his vehicle into a home here about 7 a.m. Friday, authorities say. But the homeowners, who were home at the time, were not injured.
The driver of the vehicle suffered severe bruises and cuts and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Police Chief Russ Blue said a medical condition caused 45-year-old Bradley Raddatz, of Wood Lake, Minn., to black out and drive his Ford Explorer into the home along the Minnesota River.
Homeowner Vonnie Vosberg had just stepped out of the kitchen to dry her hair in a bathroom when the SUV crashed through the south wall of her home. The vehicle continued through the living room and slammed furniture and debris into the wall of the kitchen where Vosberg had been standing only seconds earlier.
Both Vonnie and her husband, Vern, said she likely would have been killed had she not left the kitchen when she did.
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Vern had just stepped out of a downstairs shower when he heard what he thought was a large explosion in the house. He said he heard the loud "bam" that shook the house and began smelling gas, which convinced him something had exploded.
The police chief said Raddatz said he started coughing and the next thing he remembered was waking up in his vehicle in the debris-filled kitchen.
There was no alcohol or other drugs involved. The driver's medical condition triggered a coughing spasm severe enough to cause him to lose consciousness nearly a block before the vehicle went into the house, the police chief said.
Tom Cherveny is a reporter at the West Central Tribune in Willmar, Minn., which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
