Bruce Redding returned home from the gym Sunday afternoon to find an SUV on his roof and much of the front of his house destroyed.

Authorities say the speeding SUV had hit an embankment and launched into the air, like something out of a Hollywood movie, before crashing down on Redding’s roof in the 5900 block of Lillian Avenue. He was told the SUV sped down Mimika Avenue to where that street ends in a T-intersection in front of his home.

“I can see straight through my house,” said Redding, 66, who had recently paid off the home. “This is everything that I’ve worked for all my life, and for someone to run through a stop sign and destroy it ...”

Michael Arras, the St. Louis Fire Department’s deputy chief of special operations, said it was like nothing he had ever encountered as a firefighter.

“That’s not one you get every day,” Arras said.

Authorities arrived at the house about 12:40 p.m. to find the SUV on the roof and the driver trapped in the SUV. Firefighters are used to both climbing ladders and rescuing people from crashed cars — but not usually at the same time. Arras said they proceeded carefully.