Box truck delivering U.S. Mail hit a Honda Civic so hard the car was pushed into a neighboring business, police said
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - A box truck driver was arrested in Somerset County following hit-and-run collision in Hopewell that pushed a car into a building and forced the temporary evacuation of residents, police said Thursday.
File photo of a Hopewell Township Police vehicle. Shortly before 5 a.m. Hopewell Township police and firefighters were dispatched to a hit-and-run collision on West Broad Street between North Greenwood Avenue and Mercer Street, police said.
A parked Honda Civic was hit by a box truck traveling east on West Broad Street, pushing the car onto the sidewalk and damaging three park benches, a stone hitching post, a lamp post, metal garbage cans and a small tree, police said.
The car then came to a stop against the front facade of a business, where it hit the outside gas meter. No one was injured, police said.
There was no immediate information on the driver or passengers in the Civic.
Firefighters turned off gas to the building and residents in the apartment above the store were evacuated for a short time while gas company workers secured the area, police said.
High winds crumble building in Trenton, cause area flooding (PHOTOS)
An alert was sent out to police about the box truck, based on a description from a witness to the crash, police said, and it was found in Montgomery Township where it was involved in another collision there, police said.
Samuel Roberts, of Bristol, Pa., the driver of the 2006 International 430 truck delivering U.S. Mail, was charged with reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crash, failing to report a crash with property damage, failure to have a commercial driver's license, failure to produce credentials and improper display of license plates, police said.
There was no immediate detail on the crash in Montgomery Township.
West Broad Street between North Greenwood Avenue and Louellen Street was closed for about 90 minutes while police investigated the crash, police said.
Keith Brown may be reached at kbrown@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBrownTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.