KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Several people were hurt, two seriously, after Knoxville police said a firework was shot inside a moving vehicle — leading to it crashing into a house porch with two men on it.
According to the Knoxville Police Department, officers responded to a crash at the intersection of Texas Avenue and Pascal Drive around 1 a.m. Monday.
The car had crashed into the Reyes' family residence.
Police said it drove into the porch of the home after a firework was reportedly shot inside the vehicle. KPD said the driver drove past a stop sign after the firework went off and crashed.
Two men were on the front porch, Paul Reyes and his next-door neighbor Brandon Cody Treadway. They were watching the Fourth of July events unfold around them.
"We had kids running around with paintball guns, BB guys, and Roman candles," Reyes said. "The car comes down down the road with Roman candles, they were doing a drive-by with Roman candles."
It didn't take long for things to take a life-threatening turn. The car crashed into him and Reyes said the next thing he knew, he was underneath the car on his front porch.
Reyes said it felt like an eternity.
"I can't move. He can't move. All we could do was look at each other's faces," he said.
Reyes' wife, Shadow, was inside the home during the incident. However, she came running as soon as she heard the commotion.
"[The car] knocked out our whole front porch and everything that was on here," Shadow said.
She also heard the sounds of her husband crying for help.
Reyes and Treadway were under the vehicle until bystanders freed them.
"I'm really thankful for them," Shadow said, "They picked up the car and got the two out."
The two men were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with serious injuries, and KPD said one was reportedly in critical condition.
"I was lucky enough to come home," Reyes said, "We really thought we weren't going to make it."
Reyes ended up with a hip fracture in addition to some other minor injuries. However, Treadway is still at UT Medical Center's Critical Care Unit. He suffered from two punctured lungs and multiple fractures.
Police said they found a second disabled vehicle on the north side of the home that had crashed into the AC unit. Police said the occupants of that vehicle, described to be a white man and a white woman, ran off before officers arrived.
Witnesses told police fireworks were being shot at and from the vehicle that slammed into the porch before the crash.
Five people inside that vehicle were taken to area hospitals for treatment for what were reported to be minor injuries.
Earlier in the evening, people in the neighborhood captured video of several people shooting fireworks at each other, homes and passing cars.