UPDATE (Friday, May 21, 2021; 3:07 pm): This story has been updated to indicate that residents of 47 West Street were home at the time of the incident.

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A male driver was seriously injured and a female passenger received minor injuries after the vehicle they were in crashed into a home in the center of town Tuesday morning. An investigation is underway into the events that led to the crash.

Newtown Emergency Communications Center had been alerted to the vehicle — a 2000 Honda Accord EX — when dispatchers were contacted about it through a call to 911 just before 10:30 am. The caller reported the Honda was traveling in an erratic manner.

Newtown police stopped the vehicle on West Street, just in from its intersection with Main Street. When the first responding officer stepped out of their vehicle, however, the Accord left the scene, traveling at a high rate of speed on West Street.

Just about a half-mile later, the four-door sedan went over a curb, missing a hard turn just southeast of Roosevelt Drive, and crashed into the northern corner of the residence at 47 West Street.

The Honda traveled about 85 feet after hitting the curb. It struck a tree and the home, and straddled a small stone wall near the house.

The driver, Jose Cruz, 28, of Bridgeport, was trapped in the vehicle following the crash.

Newtown Police, Hook & Ladder, and Dodgingtown firefighters, and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps personnel all responded to the scene.

Hook & Ladder Chief Engineer Mike Aurelia said firefighters had to extricate Cruz from the Accord. The rear door on the driver’s side of the Accord was removed, which then granted access to Cruz.

The female passenger was able to self-extricate from the vehicle, and was checked for injuries. Both passenger were both transported to the hospital..

Aurelia said approximately eight firefighters responded to the crash.

Town Building Inspector John Poetl also responded to the scene.

Neighbors stepped out of their homes to see what was happening. With multiple marked and unmarked police cars, fire apparatus, and an ambulance in the road, curiosity was piqued.

Tina MacInnis, the owner of the house, said her family and their dogs were all fine. She and her son were home at the time of the crash, MacInnis told The Newtown Bee that afternoon.

The incident, she said, was “seriously a terrifying event.”

Newtown Police Lieutenant Aaron Bahamonde said on May 19 that the investigation into the incident was still underway.

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Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.