PORT HUENEME : Car Crashes Into Man’s Condominium

Leland Funk awoke with a jolt from his snooze on the couch when a car crashed through his wall early Monday.

“When I opened the door, there was a car sticking in the house,” said Funk, still shaken from the impact that rocked his Port Hueneme condominium complex.

The car hit a spare bedroom, and no one in the building was harmed, Funk said. Steven Chavez of Oxnard, who was riding in the car, received cuts on his head and face, police said.

Port Hueneme police believe the driver of the older model Chevrolet Camaro rounded a corner too quickly, plowed into the condo at the corner of Jill Avenue and Bolker Drive.

Police held the car’s owner, Greg Tanihara, 31, of Oxnard, Monday morning on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, Sgt. Ken Dobbe said. But they later released the man without formally charging him and are now investigating the case further, Dobbe said. Police believe Tanihara and Chavez were in the car when it struck the building shortly after 2 a.m. A bleeding Chavez was found sitting half a block away talking to a bystander, according to police reports.

He was treated at the scene of the accident and then transported to St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

“People speed around here a lot,” Funk said. “I’ve always expected a head-on collision because people speed and cut the corner. This guy didn’t even begin to turn.”