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Truck plows into Leicester home

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 20, 2009 02:31 PM

Leicester Police

The unwelcome visitor that barged into a Leicester home.

By Maria Chutchian, Globe Correspondent

A Leicester man came home 20 minutes after a United Van Lines tractor trailer crashed into his house Monday ending up in the room where the man usually sat down on the couch to watch TV, Leicester police said.

"He's a lucky guy," Chief James Hurley said.

The truck had been cut off by a BMW that drove through a stop sign, police said. The driver of the BMW, Rene M. Brown, 43, of Spencer, who was able to get out of her car on her own, was issued a citation for failure to stop at a stop sign and failure to use care at an intersection. She was treated and released from an undisclosed hospital.

The driver of the truck, Robert F. Stuart, 58, of Abington, was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. His passenger, Caroline Cooney, 47, also of Abington, also was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. No other injuries were reported.

Stafford Street and several nearby streets were closed for several hours while the scene was cleared. A crane was used to lift the truck out of the house and, at another point, to hold up a portion of the house’s roof that was resting on the truck.

The truck sustained “heavy damage,” the statement said. The extent of damage to the house is under investigation by the town’s building inspector.

The BMW was traveling north on Auburn Street about 4:45 p.m., entered the intersection and hit the tractor trailer, which was traveling down Stafford Street, police said. After the vehicles collided, the truck veered into the house, Hurley said.

The Central Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council’s accident reconstruction unit is investigating the accident, Hurley said. Leicester police were assisted by the State Police commercial vehicle inspection unit and the Leicester Fire Department during the incident.

Hurley said any additional charges would be determined when the investigation concludes.