SUV Smashes Into Ohio Motel Room: Pregnant Woman, Boyfriend 'Cheated Death'

An SUV traveling more than 100 mph smashed into an Ohio motel room Sunday.

ByABC News
July 15, 2013, 12:27 PM

July 15, 2013— -- A Toledo, Ohio, man said he feels like he "cheated death" after a van traveling 100 mph slammed into a motel room where he and his pregnant girlfriend were staying.

Adrian Smith and his girlfriend, Rochelle Watson, were asleep in their room at the Crown Inn Motel in Toledo Sunday around 11:30 a.m. when Smith got up to use the bathroom, he told ABCNews.com. But after leaving the bathroom, Smith said he heard "a big boom" that knocked him to the ground.

"I thought the motel room exploded," he said. "[The crash] threw me back. Everything pushed forward my way: the dressers, the tables, the air conditioner."

Smith said the SUV that crashed into the motel also knocked Watson to the floor. She is eight months pregnant.

The driver, 32-year-old Thomas Wallace of Temperance, Mich., was traveling more than 100 mph when he ran a red light and hit two other vehicles before losing control of his car, police told ABC News Toledo affiliate WTVG-TV

Wallace hit a light pole and then smashed into the motel.

Police do not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash, WTGV-TV reported.

"We were trapped in the room, we couldn't get out," Smith said. "They had to knock the wall down in the next room [so we could leave]."

Crown Inn Motel manager Arvind Patel told ABCNews.com, "I was worried about the pregnant woman, but no one was injured. It was a miracle."

Patel said three rooms were damaged from the crash, but Smith and Watson's room bore the brunt of the damage. He said he relocated all guests affected by the crash to other rooms in the motel.

Smith said he and Watson went to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo after the crash. He was discharged Sunday night, but said Watson was still receiving care.

"Someone was praying for us," Smith said. "We missed it by a second."