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Truck Slams Into Home, Knocking It Off Foundation

SHICKSHINNY — Authorities in Luzerne County said a homeowner is safe after a truck came barreling into a home Wednesday morning. The driver of that truck ...
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SHICKSHINNY -- Authorities in Luzerne County said a homeowner is safe after a truck came barreling into a home Wednesday morning.

The driver of that truck claims he lost his brakes and ended up crashing into the home on West Butler Street in Shickshinny.

The man inside this home in Shickshinny had an interesting wakeup call Wednesday morning when the truck slammed into his living room.

The driver of the truck says he lost his brakes and was trying to avoid children on the street.

"He was going to come away from the house and try to get down over the bank but there was little kids there and he didn't want to take a chance."

This is what happened when the driver of the box truck lost control coming down a road in Luzerne County.

He slammed into the living room of a home in Shickshinny moving the home at least two feet off its foundation.

Joe Baluski was inside the house and just got out of bed.

"My alarm clock went off, I got up to shut of off, and all of a sudden, boom, it was like a freight train hit my house," Baluski recalled.

He said he was in the room at the time where that truck hit and when the impact took place, he was thrown off his feet.

"It actually pushed me like three feet off the couch, into the living room and into the wall. I looked up and there was a truck through my front door and I was just like, 'what the heck?'"

The driver of the truck says his brakes failed while coming down the hill.

People who live near West Butler Street say they're not surprised.

"I could see how something like that could happen. A guy gets panicked, coming down off this hill and you'll hit 60 real quick," said Shickshinny resident Ron Juett.

Both the driver of the truck and Baluski walked away with only a few scratches.

"For the damage that's down there, you would think somebody really got torn up, but God bless 'em, nobody got hurt," Juett said.

"I got a cut on my foot from a piece of the dropped ceiling that fell down, but other than that I'm lucky to be alive," Baluski added.

The homeowner tells Newswatch 16 that he has insurance. Because of the damage, he thinks it might be best to just tear down the home.

State police will continue to investigate the crash.

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