St. Paul Public Works investigating after a plow smashed into trash bins along several streets in the Como neighborhood
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A St. Paul homeowner's security camera captured a city plow truck on Friday, Jan. 20, smashing into a few trash bins, knocking them over.
They shared the video on YouTube.
Another homeowner, Kyle Strop, watched this plow move down several streets in the Como neighborhood.
"To see them go down the road, and not really indicate that they were swerving out of the way for things, and just full speed ahead got me nervous for my trash can," said Strop, "I didn't want to be that guy that left it out in the middle of the street, but also I figured they would work around it."
This city plow didn't just knock over trash bins, it left behind a lot of damage.
"I found the trash cans, two of them broken. I was like, 'What is happening here,'" said Ishimwe Oreste, another homeowner in the Como neighborhood.
Three days after the incident, there were still several broken trash bins left behind on Idaho, Nebraska, and Parkview avenues on both sides of Como Park. Some trash from these knocked-over bins is still on the streets and frozen to the ground.
"[They] could have let us know they were going to plow Friday, and they didn't tell us," said Kip Bloomer, who lives along Idaho Avenue, where some of his neighbors had broken bins.
Bloomer has lived in this neighborhood for 40 years, and had some strong words for the city: "It's a screw-up, and the stupidity of our government," said Bloomer.
WCCO reached out to St. Paul Public works who said in a statement:
"Saint Paul Public Works is aware that several city garbage and recycling carts were knocked over and damaged during the Snow Emergency plowing operations on Friday, January 20. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our residents. We take the residents' complaints and concerns about this issue very seriously. We are working with our staff to initiate a formal investigation, review all data and take the appropriate actions.
"I share residents' frustration and anger about what happened," said Sean Kershaw, Director of Saint Paul Public Works. "We will be working with our staff and immediately investigating this situation."
