‘I thought they killed my family’: Police crash into home for second time

Grandparents living in western Sydney say the boys in blue have left them seeing red after crashing into their property not once, but twice.

More than six months after the latest smash destroyed their garage, they’re still waiting for their home to be repaired.

“It sounded like a bomb,” Sylvia said.

“I thought the house was collapsing,” she said.

After two crashes involving two police vehicles, the couple has been left with a badly damaged home.

Now, Frank and Sylvia say police won’t fix it.

“I don’t want money. I want my house restored,” Sylvia said.

“But the police just don’t care. I don’t think they care.”

A late-night pursuit through Merrylands in Sydney’s west came to a crashing halt in 2024 when a police vehicle slammed through the couple’s brick wall.

It was the surprise house call even the police weren’t expecting.

Sylvia said their insurer came out to help after the first crash, and the couple was satisfied with the response.

Then, around two years later, lightning struck twice - this time, with far worse consequences.

Footage shows a police wagon hurtling across the road before ploughing into Frank and Sylvia’s home, bringing part of the garage crashing down.

The officers scrambled from the wreckage, clambering over the debris.

Sylvia was inside the home with her granddaughter shortly before the crash.

Her daughter had arrived to pick the girl up, and the pair had left only minutes earlier.

“I heard this humongous crash here. I actually honestly thought the house was falling,” she said.

Sylvia initially feared her daughter and granddaughter were still outside.

Thankfully, both had already left and were safe.

“I stood there, and I thought they killed my family, and I couldn’t get past that until they rang me and I knew that they were alive, and they were okay,” Sylvia said.

All this unfolded during after-school care, with students, parents and teachers just metres from the police vehicle’s path.

The impact caused part of the garage to collapse, broke water pipes, and forced emergency crews to switch off power to the property.

But more than six months later, the house is still not fixed.

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Frank and Sylvia say police won't repair their home, and their insurer is refusing to cover costs.

“This is on the police. They should actually be working with my insurance to get this house fixed and restored the way it was,” Sylvia said.

“I’m not asking for a new house.”

The couple also want bollards installed outside the property to prevent another incident.

Asked if she felt police were ignoring them, Sylvia said: “I feel they are.

“They’re more interested in chasing other people but not facing the responsibility for the damage they’ve caused.”