Branch Stuck On Tractor-Trailer Damages Multiple Cars In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Multiple cars were damaged in Queens after a tree branch got wedged on a tractor-trailer and the driver kept going for blocks.
The truck apparently caught a section of tree near 12th Road before continuing on and eventually driving down 14th Avenue in Whitestone Tuesday night.
A man named Eric said he saw the truck headed down the street with a chunk of tree spilling out both sides between the cab and the trailer. So he jumped in his car and tried to stop the driver.
"His wheels had locked up," he told CBS2's Marc Liverman. "I followed his truck through the service road."
But the driver didn't stop, damaging close to 20 cars, Liverman reported.
"Everybody's mirrors, he messed everything up and then he just kinda went around the corner and went on his way," one witness said.
"My concern was that he didn't try to get onto the Whitestone Bridge or one of the area bridges and drive with a tree branch sticking out of both sides and potentially do a whole lot more damage," Eric said.
Audrey Neilan's car was smashed up, too.
"You could hear all the crashing. All the neighbors came running out," she said. "It's unbelievable."
Eventually, a bridge and tunnel officer pulled up next to the truck driver.
"Came out and it looked like a total war zone," said a woman named Doreen.
Video shows debris all over the road. Luckily, no one was hurt but Doreen said her car had to be towed away.
"He could have killed a lot of people," she said. "We have children on this block. We have a school around the corner."
Police said it was accident and that the driver never even realized the damage he was causing. But Neilan didn't buy it.
"I don't understand how he could not know that he had a tree on his truck. How could you not know that?" she said.
"Nobody was hurt but how do you go and do this?" said Doreen. "There's no regard for human life, where is that?"
Neilan wanted to know why he was on her street in the first place. Trucks are not allowed on most of the path of destruction.
"A lot of box trucks are coming by constantly and they know they shouldn't be on the block, so they go speeding," she said.
Police say the truck driver was issued a summons for driving without headlights and another for leaving the scene of an accident.