Dump Truck Crashes Into House In New Jersey, Driver Seriously Injured

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A family came dangerously close to being hurt or even killed, when a dump truck plowed into their house early Wednesday morning.

As CBS2's Marc Liverman reported, the damage was quite revealing. The truck was eventually towed away, but it left a hole in the home that allowed onlookers to look right inside. Pieces of the walls and roof were scattered all over the lawn as well.

The accident happened while three people were sleeping inside.

The front end of the truck plowed so far into the home, it could barely be seen.

"It just sounded like a rumble, like a truck coming down the road," neighbor Paul Walczyk said.

"It looks disastrous. I mean, really, it's scary to look at," another neighbor said.

Walczyk, who lives just a few houses away, said he came outside to the flashing lights of first responders flooding the scene near New Road and Shelley Road in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick.

"It's pretty shocking, a little scary," Walczyk said.

Police said the accident happened around 4:30 a.m. An 18-year-old and his parents were sleeping inside when the truck came barreling across the lawn and slamming 20 feet through the home, right into the kitchen and living room area. The family's bedrooms were just a few feet away from the truck.

"If this occurred four or five feet over, we're talking a different story, probably fatalities," South Brunswick Police Sgt. Gary Holsten said.

Neighbors wondered what could have happened if the truck hit their house.

"That's very scary. Like I said, our son's room is right on the corner, so it's very scary to know," a neighbor said.

Police said all three people in the home were not hurt, but the truck driver wasn't as lucky. Crews had to tow the truck out of the home just to be able to extricate the man. He was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in serious condition.

"I hope the driver's OK. I hope the family recovers OK. I just ... it's kind of shocking, that time of the night, this kind of street. It's a 25 (mph speed limit)," Walczyk said.

The crash happened even before the sun came up. It was scene that could have been even worse if the accident had happened during the day.

"You could have children walking to school, parents walking their children to school," Neighbor Joseph Bilal said.

What makes the incident even worse for the family is, "They were already doing some renovations on their house. This is the last thing they expected," Bilal said.

Investigators are trying to figure out if the driver was speeding and what caused him to drift around the curb and slam into the house.

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• New Jersey
• Marc Liverman