Bayville fire chief: Truck driver had medical emergency before crash into chicken restaurant on Route 9
Bayville Fire Chief John McKay told News 12 the driver of the propane truck had a medical emergency and hit vehicles on Route 9. He says the driver was taken to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
The driver of a propane truck had a medical emergency Wednesday on Route 1-9, lost control and ended up careening through a parking lot and then into a chicken restaurant, according to officials.
Bayville Fire Chief John McKay told News 12 New Jersey the driver of a Blue Rhino propane truck hit vehicles on Route 9 after having a medical emergency. He says the truck driver was taken to the hospital with injuries not considered life-threatneing and that another driver on Route 9 suffered "basic injuries."
The truck driver also barreled through an advertising truck and smashed three more vehicles in the parking lot of a strip mall in the area before ending up partially inside Chicken Holiday. The restaurant is about several hundred yards away from where the truck was on Route 1-9. Lee Nails, another business in strip mall, captured the crash on camera.
Chris Biele, the owner of the parked advertising truck that was hit, is also the owner of Atlantic City Jewelry in the strip mall where the crash happened. He says he received a call from one of his friends alerting him that his truck and jewelry store may have been hit. He says he arrived at the scene of the crash right away and said there was not much information at first.
“Somehow the guy hit that truck, swerved, came through the parking lot and went through the building,” Biele said. "I've never seen anything like this before. This is a very busy intersection and part of the highway, but typically on the safe side."
Biele says his truck was demolished after being hit. Other vehicles in the lot suffered extensive damage.
Engineers from Berkeley Township now have to inspect four of the stores in the strip mall - the Acme Draft House, Chicken Holiday, Lee Nails and Pet Supply Plus - to see what sort of structural damage was done by the truck.
