Homeowner traumatized after truck crashes into bedroom

June 30--SAUK RAPIDS -- Tom Esplan thought he was having a nightmare.

The 47-year-old had been laying on his back in bed, adjusting a sleep apnea machine that had woken him up June 21 at almost 4 a.m.

He heard the sound of an accelerating vehicle outside. It grew louder and closer. Then he heard a bang.

Esplan, suddenly covered in glass and debris, opened his eyes. There was a pickup in his bedroom.

The truck had smashed through the corner of his house and into his basement bedroom. It went far enough into the room to knock down the opposite wall and send a ceiling fan flying into the next room. Esplan was partially underneath the truck, and it blocked his exit from the room.

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Neighbors called 911, and a police officer had to break a window in order for Esplan to escape the room.

"I am so traumatized by this. I remember it vividly, unfortunately," Esplan said Monday. "I'm not sleeping. I'm having nightmares. Every time I'm about to doze off, I hear a vehicle go by and just tense up."

Sauk Rapids police say Michael Jeffery Lofgren, 37, of Sauk Rapids, was driving north on Seventh Avenue South at 3:41 a.m. that night when his vehicle drove off the road. Authorities said the vehicle first collided with the corner of Esplan's neighbor's house, then crashed into Esplan's.

Lofgren was extricated from his vehicle by the Sauk Rapids Fire Department and taken to St. Cloud Hospital. Police Chief Perry Beise said police suspect Lofgren was driving while intoxicated. He was given a blood test, the results of which have not yet come back.

Esplan had several cuts from broken glass but was not hospitalized, which he considers "a miracle."

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"It's very fortunate that the truck stopped where it did," Beise said. "Otherwise, (Esplan) may have been run over."

And while Esplan is grateful to be alive and not seriously hurt, he has had a difficult week since the crash.

A self-employed commercial painter, he could not get to the part of his house where his painting supplies are kept for several days. He was too busy with insurance meetings and too much of an "emotional wreck" to work. He said he has lost some business already.

Esplan is living with his mother in St. Cloud for now, and said he does not think he will be able to return to the house he lived in for 16 years and remodeled. The foundation of the house has been damaged, and a downstairs pillar holding the second floor up has been knocked loose and is in danger of falling over. A construction company working to fix the house has told him it may need to be torn down.

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Esplan said he has dealt with anxiety in the past, and this incident has worsened his mental health.

"My whole life is here," he said while standing in what was left of his bedroom. "I'm lost. My future is one huge question mark.

"And I just keep reliving that thing crashing through my wall."

Follow Sam Louwagie on Twitter at @SamLouwagie.

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