By By SPIROS GALLOS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Jane Smith couldn't believe her eyes when she looked out her kitchen window Thursday at about 12:20 p.m.
Smith, 69, 1402 Bell Road, thought she heard a semi-truck driving through her yard. When she looked out her window, she saw what she described as a "dust storm."
When the dust settled, Smith saw that a Ford Mustang had come to a stop in her front yard, leaving a path of wreckage from where it left road.
According to a Michigan State Police press release, the car attempted to pass to pass a pickup truck traveling westbound on Bell Road in a no passing zone.
Before the car could clear the truck, the driver, Jason Aaron Matlock Sr., of Niles, slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle, causing his vehicle to lose control and leave the road.
Jeremy Howell, 17, a student at Brandywine High School, was driving the pickup truck Matlock tried to pass.
The car hit a garbage can, mail box, utility pole, and a row of bushes before coming to a rest in Smith's yard after striking the car of her daughter Diane, 46, who visited her mother on Thursday.
Michigan State Police, Niles Township Fire Department, Niles City Police all responded to the accident.
Matlock, along with his 16 month-old son, was transported to South Bend Memorial Hospital due to their injuries.
Matlock remains in stable condition this morning with serious head wounds sustained in the accident. His son was released to his mother Friday morning with a minor leg injury.
The child safety seat that held the infant played a significant role in reducing serious injury to the child, according to police.
The accident remains under investigation.