Wake up call

ROANOKE, Va. - The underside of a car is a familiar sight to auto mechanic Dean Blevins. Seeing one on top of him at 2:30 in the morning, while he was in bed - that was new. A Jeep crashed through a wall of Blevins' apartment early Tuesday and pinned him in his bed. It took firefighters an hour to free him, but he suffered only minor bruises and scrapes.

As he saw the vehicle's engine above him and felt hot antifreeze splash onto his face, Blevins said, his initial thoughts were less about his injuries than about going after the driver.

"If I'd a had my gun," he told The Roanoke Times, "I'd a probably shot him."

The driver, Wesley Dewayne Smith, 34, of Roanoke, was charged with driving under the influence.

Building owner Wesley Dearing said the Jeep's windshield got snagged between the first and second floors of the wood-frame building, probably saving Blevins from being crushed.

Blevins, 58, was treated at a hospital and released. His apartment was condemned until repairs could be made, but he said he had calmed down enough to laugh about the experience.

"I'm lucky to be alive," he said.