Young man charged in drunken crash

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An Albuquerque family woke up to find an SUV had slammed into their house Sunday.
         
The man police say is responsible for ramming his car into a house is now behind bars.
         
He is not even old enough to drink, but police say 20-year-old Ian Maher was drunk when he missed a turn and crashed into a house in northwest Albuquerque.
    
The homeowner says in this case a few inches were the difference between life and death.
    
It happened on Bouvardia Avenue northwest.
    
Police say Maher was driving the SUV that clipped another vehicle just before 3 o’clock Sunday morning.
     
The SUV then jumped the curb, tore through a front yard and hit the house.
          
The home owners were sleeping inside the home when the crash happened and say if Maher wouldn't have run into the other car first, he might have killed someone.
    
They say that is because their young son sleeps in the room next to where the crash happened and instead of a stucco wall there is only a window.
    
The homeowners also say Maher did not want to get caught.

“She called 911 and I stayed by the window to see if I could see anything and all I could hear was a vehicle kept revving the engine up and down up and down,” homeowner, Russell Schuler, said.
    
Maher could not get his car out the Schuler's yard.
    
Police arrested him and is now charged with aggravated DWI and careless driving.
    
The SUV damaged a gas line so workers with New Mexico gas were also called out.