Woman Backs Car Into Palmer Township House

Clifford Whyte has a mess to clean up but he's just glad his wife wasn't hurt when a woman accidentally backed her car into his Palmer Township home on Thursday.

Helen Whyte, Clifford's bride of 58 years, was sitting at a table at the window in the dining room just a few minutes before a car plowed into the wall.

"If she hadn't gotten up..." said Whyte. "All this can be replaced. Stuff can be replaced. I'm just glad [my wife] is okay."

Whyte added a bit of humor to the situation, saying, "It's a shame she didn't hit the porch. I could have used a new porch."

Bystanders on the scene said the woman who crashed was backing out after visiting the hair salon in a strip mall across the street. It appears she hit the gas instead of the brakes, narrowly missing a telephone pole and severely damaging the Whyte home instead.

The woman was taken to a hospital by ambulance, according to an Express-Times report.

The Whytes plan on staying home despite the damage. Contractors were already set to cap electricity in the dining room and board up the wall until permanent repairs can be made.

"Unless my wife gets to the point where she just can't stand it. In which case, we might go somewhere," Whyte said.