Several people were injured today after the driver of a runaway truck smashed into the side of a single-story house in El Cerrito.
The 10-wheel hauler asphalt truck snapped a power pole and destroyed other vehicles on Moeser Lane before setting fire to the area.
El Cerrito Police Detective Sgt. Shawn Maples was one of the first rescue workers to arrive at the scene. After hearing cries coming from the burning truck and house, he dug quickly through the debris and spotted the driver lodged between the wheels of the truck. With the driver’s legs mangled and unable to move, Maples pulled the driver to safety with the help of Police Chief Scott Kirkland. "We dragged him out in a heartbeat while the truck went up in flames. I just wanted to get him out of there", Maples said.
Three other vehicles on the scene were also destroyed. The driver of a Honda sedan was pulled to safety after his car was found crumpled. Rescue workers had to peel the roof of the car off to get to the driver. Another sport utility vehicle holding a man and boy inside was stuck in the shrubbery next to the burning house. The force of the truck’s collision was so strong that it knocked over a third vehicle from Moeser Lane to the next street, Richmond.
Residents were also affected by the crash when power was knocked out in El Cerrito, Richmond and Berkeley.
One witness who lives across the street from the single-story home that was destroyed in the fire, was on his way to work around 1:30 p.m. when he heard the booming noise, “First, I thought it was a major earthquake. This is unbelievable”. His front yard was littered with bricks, broken glass, car parts, splintered wood and palm fronds.
The San Jose man identified as the driver of the asphalt truck broke both legs in the crash and is listed in serious but stable condition at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.
2 comments:
You need to try this one again. You've got a fact error. The people were injured before (or during) the crash into the house, not afterward.
Also, you need to combine the best info from your first two sentences to make your lead.
P3: Too long; tighten your sentences up and break this into two or three paragraphs. In news writing, each quote is usually its own paragraph.
P4: Good info, but split into two paragraphs.
P5: Put the power outage info higher in the story: in the lead or P2. It's pretty important.
0/20 - fact error. Please revise and republish.
Please do the Future of the News assignment (readings and blog post) as well. You missed that one last time around.
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