MIDVALE, Utah, April 12, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) – A truck crashed into a house in Midvale near 335 E. and 7800 South Tuesday morning, but the elderly occupant escaped injury.
Unified Police Department Det. Jared Richardson said officials were notified of the accident at approximately 10:45 a.m. when reports came in that a pickup truck had left the roadway and gone into the side of a house.
“When our officers arrived, we did find the vehicle inside the house about halfway through it,” Richardson said. “It appears where the truck went into the house is a bedroom. We are very fortunate that just a few feet away in another part of the house was an elderly female in the front room just enjoying her day, relaxing, and that nobody was harmed.
“She made the comment to us that when the pickup truck hit and entered the house it sounded like it was an earthquake, and she could see some debris flying around and then the sounds. Some neighbors that heard it came over to check on her that she was OK and that’s the first time she heard it was a vehicle that had hit her house.”
Richardson said preliminary reports show that the truck was travelling westbound on 7800 South.
“Witnesses told our officer they could see that the driver doing something in the cab, maybe bending down, something like that, and the vehicle started to drift over to the left into oncoming traffic,” Richardson said.
“The driver was able to realize he was drifting over there and over-corrected back to the right, causing him to leave the roadway at about 350 East or so. (He) went through some bushes, down into the grass, over some steps and barely missed two very large trees.”
Richardson said the driver then hit a decorative railroad tie and went airborne into the house. The house will be closed to occupancy for the next couple of hours while investigators work to assess the damage.
The driver was transported to a local hospital in fair condition, with head injuries. Richardson said medical crews said they could not smell any alcohol on him. He has been cited for distracted driving.
“It seems he just took his eyes off the road for a short period of time, but that was enough to cause him to veer to the left,” Richardson said.
The man’s identity has not been released.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information becomes available.
