STROUD TOWNSHIP --A man’s trip to the bank Tuesday afternoon in Monroe County came to a crashing halt.
Investigators say a concrete overhang at the bank’s drive through teller came smashing down on his utility truck.
It happened around 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Wayne Bank on the grounds of the Stroud Mall off Route 611.
The front half of a utility truck was almost sliced off after a 17 ton concrete overhanging wall came crashing down on top of its roof.
Stroud Township fire crews were immediately called to help the driver, Edward Shucoski of Pittstson, who was trapped inside Wayne Bank`s drive up teller at the Stroud Mall.
“He was talkative to us, letting us know exactly how he felt and where the pain was so we told him we were going to get to you out of here as soon as we can get this wall stabilized, we`re going to start working on the vehicle,” said Stroud Township Assist. Fire Chief Bill Unruh.
Fire fighters had to cut the Shucoski out of the truck, who was then flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital for a severe ankle injury.
The crash brought out many people to gawk at the sight.
“We went up and sat up there by JC Penney`s because we could see the slab better and someone had told us he was being medevac`d out and the helicopter had just taken off,” Robin Henriksen of Stroudsburg.
Laura Finkelstein is the mother of one of the junior fire volunteers and drove him out from Stroudsburg when he got the call.
“I thought this was just a mere car accident on 611 and it turned out to be that the bank`s whole concrete slab came down on what appears to be a utility truck,” said Finkelstein.
Stroud Area Regional police say Shocoski was driving a company boom truck and the concrete slab came crashing down while he was leaving the drive-through.
Officers are now doing accident re-construction to see why that happened.
“Take exact measurements, heights, distances and the truck and come up with a determination of why this piece of concrete fell,” said Cpl. Kenneth Nevil.