Dump Truck Pulled Out Of Quincy Parking Garage Roof

QUINCY (CBS) - A dump truck that crashed through the roof of a parking garage in Quincy was removed early Thursday morning, but dozens of drivers still can't get their cars.

A crane pulled the truck out around 4:45 a.m. as crews worked through the night to haul it out and take it away.

A nearby office and medical building was evacuated at the time of the accident. The businesses opened late Thursday morning, so construction workers could secure the area.

"It's like a blizzard in the summer, shutting us down," said John Plunkett, of Mass Bay Counseling, one of the businesses affected by the accident.

The truck carrying gravel was on the top of the garage on Furnace Brook Parkway and Copeland Street Wednesday afternoon when it suddenly crashed through the pavement.

"The load-bearing capacity of the parking structure wasn't enough to handle his load," Quincy Deputy Fire Chief Ed Fenby told reporters.

No one was hurt. The driver was able to pull himself out of the truck. He told police he got lost and was using a GPS app on his phone, which directed him into the garage. He made a U-turn on the top level and the floor collapsed.

"We heard a loud bang. We thought it was someone falling down the stairs, but it actually was the truck going down, caving in, into the garage," said Rykia White, building employee.

The garage is still not stable, so it's too dangerous to remove any of the 50 cars from the garage yet. Some of them are damaged.

Construction workers said a timeline is fluid, but they hope to have the cars that are on the upper level out Thursday. The foreman of the construction crew said he hopes to have all cars out by Friday afternoon.

The owner of the building says the damage could be in excess of $1 million to repair.

No charges will be filed against the operator of the dump truck, according to the Quincy Police Department.

In:
• Quincy News