An unidentified man has been transported to hospital after driving a pickup truck through a retaining wall and into a northwest home on Sunday afternoon.
Shortly after 2:00 p.m., Arbour Lake resident Charlene Lampron became concerned when she heard an unusual sound on John Laurie Boulevard, the thoroughfare directly behind her home.
“I heard some screeching,” recalls Lampron. “I looked over onto John Laurier and I saw a blue vehicle swerving.”
Lampron says the driver accelerated over the median before the truck disappeared from her sight.
“As I looked over toward my neighbours, I saw a big puff of smoke. The retaining wall had got hit.”
Lampron rushed over to the home several doors down from her place and discovered the source of the smoke.
“The gentleman who had come through the retaining wall had hit a house and backed up and was out of the vehicle by the time I got here,” said Lampron. “I was trying to talk to him, he was very agitated and I was trying to calm him down.”
The driver had attempted to back out of the yard but the vehicle became stuck in the wreckage of the retaining wall.
“He smelled of liquor and it was very strong,” said Lampron. She says the driver pleaded for her to not call police and he needed to call his father instead.
Fire crews, police and EMS responded to the scene. The driver of the pickup truck was transported to hospital by ambulance. The extent of the man's injuries has not been released.
No one was in the backyard at the time of the crash and the driver sustained the only reported injuries. The extent of the damage to the home has not been confirmed.
Police are investigating the incident and have not ruled out alcohol as a contributing factor in the crash.
