Car hits house near Iowa City; no one hurt

UPDATE: No one was hurt when a car slammed into a house along a rural Johnson County highway this morning.

The accident happened around 7 a.m. at the Brian and Jackie Dowell residence, 5429 Morse Rd. NE, when the driver of the car swerved to miss a deer, authorities said. The car spun through a ditch and hit the house near the front door, sending insulation and drywall flying inside.

The couple's 9-year-old son, Kurtis, was lying on a couch just a few feet from the point of impact, and Jackie Dowell was nearby in the kitchen. Neither of them was struck by any debris.

“It happened in a split second,” Jackie Dowell said. “Everything just kind of blew into the house. The door blew open and glass was flying. I screamed as loud as I could, and I could hardly hear myself.”

The driver of the car, Jay Meier, 48, of Tipton, was not hurt. He declined to comment at the scene.

Brian Dowell, who returned home after a frantic phone call from his wife, said the family is lucky the car hit the house where it did. Along the same wall are a metal desk and a TV.

“If the car would have been another few feet this way, the desk would have killed him,” Dowell said.

Deer are common through the area, Brian Dowell said. Almost two years ago, he was thrown out of his vehicle after a late-night collision with a deer just to the west of Monday's accident scene.

Another motorist found him lying on the road, unconscious. He came away with only a concussion.

“This is deer heaven right here,” Dowell said.

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