Big Accident - Classon and Park

As I was nearing home at the end of the morning dog walk, I heard a huge clash-boom around the corner. This is what happened -

A U-Haul rammed several parked cars together and pushed one mangled car on to the sidewalk. The U-Haul slammed in to the sometimes art space next to Chavella's. We had just walked by there a few minutes earlier. A guy that had been standing there was nearby, shaking pretty badly - he had seen the truck barreling towards him, and fled. There was a ambulance present, and overheard talk indicates that it may have been a major (primary?) factor in the accident.

Whenever I hear of a uhaul truck getting in an accident, I also suspect driver inexperience.

Weekend trucker renters often don't have the skills to drive the vehicles well:

-how long they take to stop.

-how low of a bridge they can go under.

-how wide they are

-etc.

Yes, those are usually safe assumptions, but the word on the street seemed to be that the ambulance came flyin' in unannounced, and only turned on the sirens at the very last second.

this seems pretty trustworthy:

http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/u-haul-collides-with-ambulance-hits-4-cars-then-a-building#photo-6193307

Winston Congal, a security guard at a nearby building, was standing near the corner when he saw the ambulance, with lights on and sirens blaring, going through a red light on Sterling when the U-Haul came driving down Classon.

“He (the U-Haul driver) was coming so fast I said, ‘Who is going to stop now?’” Congal said.

When he saw the ambulance, the U-Hall driver swerved, preventing a full-on crash, but the ambulance still hit the U-Hall on the back corner, causing it to careen wildly, hitting four parked cars including a 1999 Dodge Stratus that was pushed up, Congal said.

"It went up in the air, it was like it was about to fly,” he said.

Then the U-Hall plowed through the front door of a private building narrowly missing Chavella’s, Congal said.

“This U-Haul driver, he drove so well. Had it gone into the restaurant there would have been dead bodies,” Congal said.

this seems pretty trustworthy:

http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/u-haul-collides-with-ambulance-hits-4-cars-then-a-building#photo-6193307

Winston Congal, a security guard at a nearby building, was standing near the corner when he saw the ambulance, with lights on and sirens blaring, going through a red light on Sterling when the U-Haul came driving down Classon.

“He (the U-Haul driver) was coming so fast I said, ‘Who is going to stop now?’” Congal said.

When he saw the ambulance, the U-Hall driver swerved, preventing a full-on crash, but the ambulance still hit the U-Hall on the back corner, causing it to careen wildly, hitting four parked cars including a 1999 Dodge Stratus that was pushed up, Congal said.

"It went up in the air, it was like it was about to fly,” he said.

Then the U-Hall plowed through the front door of a private building narrowly missing Chavella’s, Congal said.

“This U-Haul driver, he drove so well. Had it gone into the restaurant there would have been dead bodies,” Congal said.

Wow, I hope the driver is ok.

Wow, I hope the driver is ok.

I was actually in Chavella's when this happened, and let me tell you, for a moment I thought it was going to come through the window and hit my wife and I. The U-Haul driver may or may not have been skilled, but I wondered why the hell he didn't pull over when he heard the siren. It's the law! Amazingly, no one was hurt in this accident --- everyone must have been wearing a seat belt. Here's a couple of other pictures I took with my iPhone while I was waiting for my nerves to calm down. In one picture, you can see how close the truck came to the window. In another, you can see the trunk lid of the fourth car, which has been completely spun around.

Attached files

Here are the pictures.

Attached files

whoa, that is realllllly close to hitting Chavellas!

Oh boy - another Minnesotan on the block!

Speaking of which, I wonder if the laws pertaining to emergency vehicles are any different here than in MN - my friends uncle was a firefighter and he maintained that, even with lights and sirens, emergency response vehicles were culpable when running reds (don't know how much this extended to violating other traffic laws).

From your pics - "Good God" is all I think, I would have thought as that U-Haul came barreling towards Chavella's glass window.

Hopefully, adrenaline would of kicked in and I would of mad a mad dive in some direction opposing the on coming truck.

Woah, talk about luck no one was seriously injured.

danpink said:

The U-Haul driver may or may not have been skilled, but I wondered why the hell he didn't pull over when he heard the siren. It's the law!

if the article above is correct that the truck and the ambulance were driving on perpendicular paths, it seems plausible to me that the uhaul driver might not have heard/noticed the siren until it was too late (especially if he was concentrating on dealing with a large, unfamiliar vehicle). not quite the same as ignoring an emergency vehicle coming from behind you, imho.