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Port Lavaca man hits garage with car, accused of DWI

A Port Lavaca man was arrested Saturday after allegedly driving intoxicated and smashing into the home of Karen Dunseth in the 300 block of Timberlane Drive.
  • Jennifer Preyss •
  • Originally published August 19, 2012 at 10:57 p.m., updated August 20, 2012 at 7:47 a.m.

Karen Dunseth was packing her car for a weekend vacation about 8:30 p.m Saturday when she realized she forgot something in the kitchen.

She walked out of the garage and stood in the kitchen, pondering the item she needed to pack.

"I had just gone back inside and I heard something and thought it was thunder. Then I heard the boom and felt my house shake," said Dunseth, who lives in the 300 block of Timberlane Drive.

When she went to investigate the noise, she noticed one side of her duel-car garage had collapsed and bricks from her home were scattered across the driveway.

She then saw a man at the bottom of her driveway getting out of the passenger side of a white SUV.

"He apologized for hitting my house," she said. "I'm not hurt, I'm just a little shaken up."

Victoria Police Officer Sterling Kocian, who responded to the emergency call Saturday, arrested Port Lavaca resident Francisco Paredez, 35, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana.

Paredez was driving north on John Stockbauer Road in a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee when his car veered off the road and swiped Dunseth's wooden fence, oak tree, and an attached garage before driving over a large bush and braking near the end of her driveway.

"Bricks were everywhere. There's still motor oil at the end of the driveway where his car was," Dunseth said.

Dunseth said her home is insured, and she has draped a blue tarp over the damage until it can be rebuilt.

Dunseth said Paredez did not appear to be injured.