60,000-pound front end loader barrels down hill, crashes after brakes fail
WCVB, MILFORD POLICE DEPT, CNN
By Veronica Haynes, John Atwater
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MILFORD, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Police in Milford, Massachusetts, say it is a “miracle no one was killed or seriously injured” after a 60,000-pound front-end loader barreled down a hill into traffic after its brakes failed.
On Friday at approximately 1:38 p.m., Milford police received multiple 911 calls reporting that a large front-end loader had crashed on Cedar Street.
Videos show the yellow piece of heavy equipment rolling down a hill on Fortune Boulevard towards a busy intersection with Cedar Street. It clips the front end of an SUV then rolls over a traffic island and street signs before crashing into a traffic pole, which finally stops the vehicle. A man can be seen in the loader’s cab trying to steer the runaway behemoth away from traffic.
The woman driving the SUV, Deanna Simonds, says she is grateful that the situation did not end badly.
“I’m really thankful, I’m thankful my kids weren’t with me,” Simonds said, becoming emotional. “It could’ve been a lot worse.”
She also says she heard other cars honking before she was eventually hit, but she didn’t know why.
“I didn’t know what the driver of the truck was trying to convey,” Simonds said. “I tried to scooch over a little bit if there was an emergency vehicle that was trying to come through, but it was quick thereafter that the bulldozer hit me.”
A flatbed tow truck that was in traffic quickly rushed to where the loader had crashed.
“It’s a miracle no one was killed or seriously injured,” said Milford Police Chief Robert Tusino. “If a motorist had entered the intersection just one second earlier, we could be facing an unspeakable tragedy.”
Police said the loader experienced brake failure while it was on Fortune Boulevard.
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