Girls leave room, rig crashes through it

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Two little girls, who apparently couldn't sleep, got out of the bed they shared less than a half-hour before a tractor-trailer plowed through their bedroom.

Cori Morgan, 7, and her sister, Shadia, 3, had left their bedroom for the living room just before the 4:30 a.m. crash, said Cerrisa Moore, whose mother owns the house.

The girls' parents, Cody Batiste and Sally Morgan, both are deaf.

"When it happened, I just thought it was the rain," Batiste said through sign language interpreter Phyllis St. Cyr.

"There was a big noise, and I was puzzled," Batiste said. "Cori looked around and said the bedroom was all messed up."

St. Cyr, who knows the family, had stopped by when she saw Morgan picking up children's clothes from the ground where the bedroom had been.

Willie Edwards, a trucker for Edwards Transport of Houston, was cited for reckless driving, said Cpl. Mark Francis of the Lafayette Police Department.

Before hitting the house, Edwards hit a light pole and a traffic control box. He was treated for minor injuries.