Car slams into house; baby injured

Cathy Scott

Monday, May 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

An 11-month-old baby boy was in serious condition today after being thrown across a room by a car that slammed through his mother's house.

The bizarre incident occurred about 2:20 a.m. today when a man, whose name has not been released, forcibly took his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Monica Hill, from her house in the 5200 block of Hagemann Lane, near Nellis Boulevard and Bonanza Road, Metro Police traffic Sgt. Curt Albert said.

Officers had been called to the house because "he was beating her," Albert said.

The ex-boyfriend forced Hill into her 1988 Oldsmobile, and as he drove away, two officers in a patrol car were arriving at the scene. They noticed the man and woman fighting in the car.

As the officers made a U-turn in their patrol car to pursue the car, the suspect lost control of the vehicle, hit a car in a driveway and then drove it into a house at 772 Betty Lane, about eight blocks from Hill's house.

Joey Graham, asleep in a bassinette, "was airborne," Albert said.

"The car literally took out the whole front of the house and sent the baby flying and ran into the mother's bed," Albert said.

The mother, 33-year-old Lee Anne Graham, also asleep at the time, suffered a fractured ankle and was released from University Medical Center at 4:30 a.m.

"It looks like the baby's going to be OK," Albert said. "He was really, really fortunate."

Hill was not injured. The suspect fled on foot and was still at large this morning.