(Kingsford Heights, IN) - A dump truck driver escaped serious injury practically by a razor’s edge after crashing into a store Monday near Kingsford Heights.   The collision happened at about 11 a.m. (central time) at Miller’s Flea Market in the 7000 west block of U.S 6/U.S 35. 

 

LaPorte County Police deputy Scott Boswell said the northbound dump truck left the east side of the two-lane highway. Boswell said the driver after overcorrecting veered across both lanes and traveled across the parking lot before crashing into the building. The truck destroyed a metal awning and caused some damage to the front of the structure but did not penetrate the building.

 

Boswell said pieces of metal from the awning crashed through the windshield and were just inches from the driver’s upper extremities when the truck came to a stop. “He was very lucky,” he said.  Boswell said the driver pinned inside the cab until extricated less than a half-hour later was taken to the hospital with just minor injuries to one of his hands.

 

Homer Miller, the longtime owner of the store, said nobody was inside the building. The store has been closed since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. Miller said he was home a short distance away when notified about the crash. “It was right out of the blue sky,” he said.

 

Miller said he did not immediately know the extent of the damage to his business.