Tree service truck crashes into Cherry Hill dentist office: officials
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- All lanes of Route 70 at Rt. 41/CR 154 in Cherry Hill have reopened after a tree service truck crashed into a dentist's office, The New Jersey Department of Transportation said.
Chopper 3 showed a Bartlett Tree Experts truck partially inside the Lakeview Dental Care building.
The truck plowed into the dentist's office and then burst into flames.
#BREAKING: A truck plowed into Lakeview Dental Care on Rt 70 in Cherry Hill then burst into flames. The driver suffered burns + rushed to hospital. The office manager was thrown to the ground from the impact and her colleagues say her desk likely saved her life. @CBSPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/SAvXVV0Cf6
— Ryan Hughes (@HughesCBS3) September 6, 2023
The office manager of Lakeview Dental Care was thrown to the ground from the impact. Her colleagues said that her desk likely saved her life.
"A couple more inches and I don't think we'd be having the same conversation today," Alyssa Canale, the director of operations for Lakeview Dental Care, said.
It was lunchtime. The waiting room was empty and most of the workers inside Lakeview Dental Care were out to lunch, but the manager was in her office when all of a sudden a truck lost control and burst into the building.
"She said she heard a boom and then she was covered in sheetrock and glass," Canale said. "She was underneath her desk and the desk collapsed on top of her."
Canale says another worker was able to pull her colleague from underneath the desk as the Bartlett Tree Experts truck crashed into the office, leaving the driver trapped behind the wheel.
"Our personnel happened to be close by and arrived on scene immediately and went to work on the driver," Cherry Hill Fire Department Chief Wade Houlihan said.
Houlihan says the driver was rescued and rushed to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia with significant burns. The dental office sustained smoke and water damage and part of the ceiling collapsed.
And amazingly, the office manager only suffered some lacerations and injured her wrist.
"Luck was definitely upon us today," Houlihan said.
"Thank God she is OK and all our patients and team members are OK. We can fix this, but we can't fix it if something traumatic happens," Canale said.
Witnesses say the driver was all over the road before losing control, but it's still unclear what caused this crash. It's under investigation.
No other injuries have been reported in the crash.