In a bizarre accident, a Peapod grocery delivery truck ran off the road, overturned, and crashed into a Staten Island home around 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
On his way to deliver groceries in the neighborhood of Great Kills, the 55-year-old driver of the truck suffered an unknown medical incident, causing him to lose control of his truck. An NYPD spokesman said that the driver likely accidentally pressed the accelerator when he lost control, causing him to slam into the front of the house. The truck was flipped on its side, and its front windshield was shattered.
The driver was rushed to an area hospital in serious condition. A resident of the neighborhood said that when asked if he was okay, the driver seemed “disoriented” and “kept tapping his chest.” They think he may have suffered a stroke or heart attack at the wheel.
Up to 10 FDNY units responded to the crash, as well as members of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, as the overturned truck was leaking fuel onto the street.
The owners of the house the truck crashed into were shaken, but luckily uninjured. The truck hit the front left side of the single-story home on Hillcrest Street. The Department of Buildings was called to inspect the damage done to the house. They found that the collision largely impacted the front of the home; there was damaged brick and the structural framing was dislodged. Despite this, the building was generally considered structurally stable. A partial vacate order was issued for the home’s front yard and bedroom.
Stop & Shop, the supermarket chain that partners with Peapod, issued a statement confirming the accident and that no one other than the driver was injured in the crash. Oddly, in the context of this harrowing crash, they opined that there would only be slight delays for other Peapod deliveries in the Metro New York area.
Although luckily no one was fatally injured in this crash, crashes like these can still result in disastrous consequences, whether through injury or property damage. In 2017, there were 363,000 large trucks involved in Property Damage Only (PDO) crashes, meaning no one was injured in the accident. That is a 3 percent increase from 2016, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts.
The Peapod delivery truck is a commercial vehicle. Any vehicle that is owned and operated by a business is considered a commercial vehicle. These can include trucks, cars, buses, vans, taxis, package delivery vehicles like UPS or FedEx, garbage trucks, limousines, construction vehicles, and food delivery trucks, among others. When a commercial vehicle is involved in an accident while on the job, the company that owns the vehicle may be liable for any injuries that the driver of the vehicle, passengers, or pedestrians sustain.
Block O’Toole & Murphy has extensive experience in personal injury law and can help you to obtain the compensation you are legally entitled to if you or a loved one has been injured in a commercial vehicle accident. Some notable commercial vehicle accident cases include:
- A record-breaking $13,500,000 settlement for a pedestrian hit by a commercial vehicle.
- A $9,263,326 jury verdict for a taxi passenger injured in a multi-vehicle collision.
- A $3,258,000 jury verdict for a delivery truck helper who was struck by a supermarket forklift.
- A $1,250,000 settlement for a driver rear-ended by a commercial box truck.
Call us at 212-736-5300 or fill out our contact form for a free, no-obligation legal consultation.