DUI Suspect Crashes Car into Two Homes—on Opposite Sides of Street

OUTSIDE SAN DIEGO, CA — A 57-year-old local man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Wednesday night after witnesses say he struck two houses—on either side of a street.

La Mesa police said Russell Shatto, driving a blue Honda sedan in La Mesa, turned right on eastbound University Avenue onto Cypress Street, mowed into a bush, hit a porch, drove through a hedge and then made a hard left—striking the truck and pushing it onto a lawn. 

The car ended up hitting a second house across the street a little after 8 p.m., according to witnesses in a neighborhood south of the ballfields near the La Mesa Community Center.

“I was watching TV and eating a Popsicle when I heard a crash, people yelling, an engine revving like crazy and wheels spinning,” said Diane Scott, a resident of a duplex hit by the driver. “I could tell that he did not hit the brakes.”

Ben Reade, another witness, said he and his wife were walking their dog on the sidewalk when they heard the car come from behind with the engine revving. He said the car wasn't too close but saw its path of destruction.

The truck’s axle was broken in the crash, its wheel left lying on the ground. 

Police arrested Shatto and said his car would be towed. Online records indicate he lives on Cypress Street.