A tow truck driver was arrested and a family was left with a badly damaged home and two damaged cars after a tractor-trailer rolled down a street into a home in Robertson County.
The incident happened around 7 a.m. Monday along Elm Hill Court, just off Sycamore Drive in Greenbrier.
According to police, the owner of the truck left the semi running unattended while going into his mother’s home.
The owner of the truck apparently did not have all of the necessary brakes engaged, and the remaining brakes failed - causing the truck to roll down the street, down a driveway, and into a family’s two cars and the side of their home.
PHOTOS: Semi Rolls Backwards, Crashes Into Home
A structural engineer was called out to the scene and said the damage was so severe that it wasn't safe to immediately remove the truck.
Hours later, crews were finally able to tow away the tractor trailer.
The truck was just towed out of the side of the home. Luckily no one was injured inside of the home. @NC5 pic.twitter.com/x1fPdCc712
— Jesse Knutson (@NC5_JKnutson) April 25, 2016
The driver told NewsChannel 5 that he’d just parked his truck when it started to roll backwards. He ran after it in an attempt to hop inside and slam on the brakes.
A neighbor heard the impact of the truck crashing into the home and said it sounded “like a tornado.”
It was a situation that police said never should have happened. Chief KD Smith with the Greenbrier Police Department said it's illegal to park on the side of the road like the owner of this truck had done, and neighbors had called numerous times in the past to complain about this man and his truck.
“If we get another call about the truck parked here, the truck will be towed,” he said. “It’ll be towed and impounded. I can guarantee that.”
The truck struck the back of the home, doing damage to a bathroom.
“It’s severe,” said Lieutenant Bill Miller with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. “It’s taken out basically the whole left-rear corner of the house and a very good chuck of the left side of the house.”
Two children who live at the home had already left for school, but the truck was just seconds from hitting the mother inside.
Police said it was fortunate the woman wasn’t hurt, but both of the family’s cars were damaged.
Here's a look at the damage to the home from @justaphotog5 - THP says home badly damaged, total loss. @NC5 pic.twitter.com/mVmH6IKVYW
— Jesse Knutson (@NC5_JKnutson) April 25, 2016
The family was forced to evacuate their home with some of their belongings in fear that the house would collapse.
In a bizarre twist to an already unusual situation, the tow truck operator called to help at the scene had to be taken into custody after officials said he became violent.
Police said after tow truck driver Christopher Barber got to the scene he started yelling and swearing at officers for unknown reasons.
Officers took Barber to a patrol car with the intention to sit him down and calm him down, but that’s when things escalated. NewsChannel 5 cameras were there when police officers were forced to take Barber to the ground.
A tow truck driver tasked with removing the truck from the home assaulted officers for unknown, unrelated reasons. pic.twitter.com/mQqYLSulDQ
— Jesse Knutson (@NC5_JKnutson) April 25, 2016
According to THP investigators, Barber aggressively pulled away from a trooper, swung his arm back, and then grabbed the troopers shirt.
Barber was taken into custody and was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and vandalism.
The driver of the tractor trailer suffered minor injuries during the ordeal. He has been cited for parking illegally and could face more penalties in civil court.
“(It was an) extremely close call,” said Lieutenant Miller. “This is why you never take anything for granted. Safety needs to be everyone’s number one priority in everything that you do, even if you’re just letting a vehicle warm up.”
The owners of the home said that due to the house being moved off of the foundation and the structural damage, the home will likely have to be demolished and rebuilt.
