Garbage Truck Explosion Trashes Kendall Street
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A Miami-Dade garbage truck made a big noise on a quiet street in Kendall as it stopped to pick up a can on S.W. 129th Court near 106th Street.
The truck blew up.
"I heard a really loud boom, first thinking that it was a sonic boom," said resident James Griffin. "But it was much, much louder than a sonic boom."
The blast ripped out the right side of the truck's garbage compartment, sending debris flying as far as a block away.
"Just a bomb," is the way resident Chris Savoy described the explosion.
What he thought was a bomb went off right in front of his home.
"It knocked the windows out of the house, it knocked the door off," said Savoy. "It jacked up the house."
It also impaled the rear window of his vintage Ford Mustang with a piece of debris.
Some residents ran to help the truck driver.
"We just went out to see how he was doing, and someone called 911," said Jayna Vahia.
The garbage truck driver injured his leg leaping from the cab in fear that there might be another explosion. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution and is expected to be fine.
What in the truck's trash caused such a tremendous blast?
"They have a lot of garbage in the area, so it's all part of the investigation," said Miami-Dade Detective Jennifer Capote. "They have to comb through everything and see what might have caused this."
Indeed, every agency from the FBI to ATF to Homeland Security was drawn to the exploding garbage truck looking to learn what or perhaps who, caused it.
Investigators believe someone probably unwittingly put something in the trash that they should not have, but are not ruling out foul play.
"We believe this is an isolated incident, but right now everything is under consideration," said Capote.
