AUGUSTA – An Augusta woman who was injured when an uninsured driver plowed into the side of her home has been awarded $17,000 in damages.

A Kennebec County Superior Court jury Wednesday found the driver, Darci Ann Babin of China, negligent and responsible for Marian McElmurry’s injuries.

McElmurry’s auto insurance company, New Hampshire Indemnity Co. Inc., will pay the damages under the uninsured motorist provision.

McElmurry was sitting on the arm of her couch when Babin’s pickup truck plowed into the side of her basement apartment and knocked her to the floor Nov. 10, 1999. McElmurry was treated for a neck injury several days after the crash.

Police say Babin, who was 25 at the time, didn’t know how to operate a stick shift and drove the truck into the apartment building. The insurance on the pickup truck had expired two days before the crash.