Schuylkill County Sheriff Joseph G. Groody was on his way out the back door of his home at about 9:45 p.m. Monday for his shift as a volunteer with Washington Fire Company Community Ambulance when he heard a loud bang.

"It sounded like the impact was out on Center Street. I said to my wife, I gotta go, there's a wreck. And she yells at me, 'There's a wreck all right. It hit the side of our house,'" Groody said.Ashland police said charges are pending against the driver of the car, Melanie L. Rooney, 39, of Mount Carmel.Groody detailed the events."She was driving west on Walnut Street in Ashland at a high rate of speed. I would estimate her speed at at least 80 mph.She ran a bunch of stop signs and almost hit several people coming up the street," he said.Coming up to 23rd and Walnut Street, she failed to round a curb, he said."She hit a curb, and when she hit the curb, both of her tires blew out. She hit a stop sign, and proceeded through my neighbor's whole lawn. There was a big tree, and I don't know how she missed it," Groody said.She also barely missed a big tree on Groody's lawn."With two blown-out tires, she proceeded 150 feet and she hit my house, hit it dead corner. It damaged the side and the front," he said.Groody immediately went to check to see if the driver was hurt, but she had run off.On the radio with police, he saw her crossing the highway.Rooney, who had gotten facial injuries from the crash, was taken to a hospital where, Groody said, she refused chemical testing.The crash jarred loose the walls and an area of ceiling in his dining room, Groody said.