Amad Racuya welcomed the excitement on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

"You don’t have a car in your front yard every day," he said.

Cynthia Tsuji was taken to the hospital in serious condition yesterday after her car left the street and landed 20 feet below across the front lawns of two of her neighbors.

Police said the 57-year-old driver reported her brakes failed while heading down Aiea Heights Drive, and she careened through the T-intersection at Ulune Street. There were no skid marks showing the woman’s path.

Her Toyota Tercel crossed Ulune Street and tore through the fence and metal handrail that goes from Racuya’s street-level carport to his lawn below. The Toyota landed about 15 feet from Racuya’s bedroom, where he was playing guitar.

"I heard a crash-boom-bang," he said. He helped workers free the car before a tow truck dragged it by cable back up to the street.

His wife, Debbie Smith, said several accidents have occurred at the confusing five-way intersection, but she likes the location because it’s just a block away from her son’s school, Aiea High.

Mal Tsuji said his sister, Cynthia Tsuji, was driving home from a church function when she crashed and immediately called him to say she was OK.

Sala Fuimaono, 29, was on the first floor of her home when she heard a loud sound.

She thought it came from her roof, checked the back yard, and found the car in the front. It sat where her 3-year-old son had been playing only five minutes earlier.

"I don’t feel safe anymore," she said. "I used to feel that this is the safest house on the whole island."

Fuimaono’s brother-in-law helped Cynthia Tsuji get out the car. Tsuji appeared stunned and had a black eye, Fuimaono said.

"We’re lucky," Fuimaono said. "We’re all lucky. Everyone’s lucky today."