Lucky Escape

Boy Avoids Serious Injury After Driving Truck Into House

By John Whittaker jwhittaker@post-journal.com
A Ford-tough 5-year-old is fine to play another day, but the Ford pickup truck he was driving Wednesday night is headed to the scrap heap.

The child was uninjured when the truck he was driving hit the corner of a house at 130 S. Main St., Jamestown, at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.

According to a Jamestown Police Department report, the child was left in the vehicle unattended and was apparently playing when the Ford pickup truck he was playing in was driven across Prather Avenue, hit at least one parked vehicle and then went down an embankment and into the side of the house, which was formerly the Wellman Furniture Gallery. It is now a private home.

‘‘I heard some banging up here on the street, and I looked up and the banging continued,’’ said an eyewitness. ‘‘I couldn’t see anything. All of a sudden, I saw the truck slamming over the hill and into the building.’’

Mark Polaski, the home’s occupant, said he was relaxing in a room on the far side of the house when he felt the whole house shake. He ran outside and struggled to get the child out of the vehicle before calling 911.

‘‘I felt something very odd,’’ he said. ‘‘I ran outside. ... To my shock, this is what I saw and there was a screaming child inside the car.’’

‘‘All I saw was the child on the passenger side,’’ Polaski said. ‘‘It took me like three minutes to get the door open because it was stuck. I pulled him out and took him inside and called 911.’’

Jamestown police officers, Jamestown firefighters from Station 3 and ALSTAR Ambulance responded to the scene. The child was taken to WCA Hospital for observation, but eyewitnesses said the child was only complaining of a pain in his arm.

Once the child was taken from the scene, a flatbed wrecker was called to remove the truck, which was wedged between the bank and the side of the house. The wrecker hooked onto the front of the truck and pulled it clear of the house, with little visible damage to the house. The truck was heavily damaged.

Firefighters were on the scene until after 9 p.m.