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Wife speaks after husband shot by Seagoville homeowner
80-year-old Kenneth Esner suffered a seizure and crashed into a Seagoville home on Nov. 24 when the homeowner shot him twice. His wife says they have mounting medical bills and that her husband is dealing with the trauma of being shot.
SEAGOVILLE, Texas - The wife of an 80-year-old man who was shot after suffering a seizure and driving his car into a Seagoville home spoke to FOX 4's Shaun Rabb on Monday.
Kenneth Esner was hit at least twice by bullets that pierced his front windshield.
She says they have mounting medical bills and that her husband is dealing with the trauma of being shot.
The question for law enforcement is whether the force used was within the law and what happened in the time between the car hitting the house and when shots were fired.
"He's at home now. He's recovering," said Janet Whearley, Esner's wife.
Esner suffered a medical emergency while driving at about 8 a.m. on November 24.
He left the road, crashed through a fence and into the front bedroom window of a Seagoville home on May Road.
"He had a seizure and he went into the window area there at the house and got stuck between two bricks," Whearley said. "His truck wouldn't move anyway and his gas pedal got stuck and all he remembers he says is seeing somebody come out telling him to get out of his truck, and he said then the guy walked back through the window where he broke it at, and he got a gun. Next thing you know, he had a gun pointing at him."
Someone in the home fired through the truck's front windshield, hitting Esner at least twice, including an arm wound.
"It's healing up, so it's closing, you know, and one scraped him across the side when he tried to dodge the gun and went through the truck seats," said Whearley.
Seagoville police made no arrest, instead referring the case to a grand jury.
Former prosecutor and current defense attorney Russell Wilson talked with FOX 4's David Sentendrey about the case.
"I imagine the law enforcement agency said, look we have an unintentional entry into a home in the course of a medical episode, we have a homeowner using deadly force in circumstances where they would normally be justified, and so they said - hey - we're going to send this to the grand jury and let them sort through it," Wilson said.
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Grand jury to hear case of man who was shot after crash
No one was arrested or charged when an 80-year-old man, who was suffering a medical emergency, was shot after crashing his car into a house. Instead, the case was sent to a grand jury to determine if the shooter should face a criminal charge.
Whearley says she has a hard time believing the homeowner believed her husband was a threat.
"He had a handicap sticker plain as day in his windshield," she said. "It's an elderly man and if I walk out and I see an elderly man in his truck I'm not going to go get him. I'm going to see if I can help him. He was trapped in his truck. He couldn't get out."
[REPORTER: "What do you hope comes out of this for our community?"]
"For people to be safe in our community. I mean, it's very dangerous lately, you can't go anywhere. Guns are everywhere and anybody can carry them," Whearley said.
Despite the trauma, Whearley is grateful.
"It could have been worse, at least he's alive. He's surviving," she said.
Whearley says he husband has been taking medication for the seizures for at least 10 years and hadn't had a seizure until November 24.