Garbage Truck Slams Into Yonkers Building; Driver Seriously Injured
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A garbage truck slammed into a building in Yonkers Monday night, leaving a driver and a person inside the building seriously injured.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, the accident happened around 8 p.m. on busy Nepperhan Avenue.
A veteran Yonkers public works employee was at the wheel of the 16-ton garbage truck when he suddenly felt ill and crashed, Aiello reported.
The garbage truck was headed north when it suddenly swerved off the street, threaded the needle between two trees, and struck a building – including Yonkers Union Car Service.
"I just heard a loud noise, and when I went outside, I saw this confusion – that's what it looked like, confusion – and I went outside, and then when I turned back in, the dispatcher's still there. I said: 'You have to get out! You have to get out!' because I smelled gasoline," said Bianca Rodriguez of the Yonkers Union Car Service. "It looked like it was from the movies."
"One of the individuals – of the Teamsters driving the vehicle – apparently felt ill, and as a result went off the road into the building," said Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano.
The City of Yonkers identified the driver as Thomas del Prete. He was extricated from the cab and taken to Jacobi Medical Center with significant injuries.
An employee inside the car service was hit by the debris and was also being treated at a hospital late Monday.
The car service is a thriving business with about 60 drivers. The owner was scrambling to set up a dispatch service at her home late Monday.
Crews late Monday were in the process of removing the garbage truck. Yonkers city engineers will be assessing 192 Nepperhan Avenue for structural damage.
