Out-of-Control Pick-up Slams Into Two Royal Palm Beach Homes

ROYAL PALM BEACH -- John Perrine has suffered 16 heart attacks throughout his life and the last thing he needed was the shock he got Thursday night.

He and his wife were inside their Royal Palm Beach home when they thought they heard a bomb go off and felt their home shake.

"I didn't know what the hell it was. It sounded like an explosion," Perrine said.

Perrine, 72, says his wife was standing just six feet away when a Ford F-150 pick-up created a gaping hole in the guest bedroom. The driver, a roofing contractor, told Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue he had a heart attack as he drove down Goldfinch Lane around 8:30pm.

He then lost consciousness and plowed into a home along Sandpiper Avenue. Then, the man says he threw his truck in reverse. The big Ford went backwards across the intersection and then into the Perrine home, slamming into their wall.

The heart-attack survivor checked on his wife, then went outside and jumped into action.

"He had to come out. I thought the pick-up was on fire and I couldn't tell if it was smoke," he said. CBS 12's Juan Carlos Fanjul asked him: "You didn't think twice about it?"

"No I just went and got him," he said. The driver was rushed to JFK Medical Center and was conscious. His wife tells CBS 12 News her husband suffered a major heart attack and will have to have stents put in, but should recover.

Perrine, who says he's actually been clinically dead, said he felt an adrenaline rush, but luckily no major heart flutters.