Atlantic City residents received a scare hours after the deadly terror attack in New York City when a truck crashed into part of the boardwalk.
Parthe Gujarati was inside his car near Martin Luther King Boulevard around 9 p.m. Tuesday when he saw a pickup truck speeding towards him. The truck was only a few inches away from hitting his vehicle but continued down the block.
“I had to move,” Gujarati told NBC10. “Had I not moved, trust me, I was going for a tough one.”
The pickup truck took out a light pole and fire hydrant and then side-swiped another car before finally ripping down railings on the boardwalk ramp and rolling off. The truck was flipped on its side and wedged between the ramp and a building. Surveillance video captured the moment of impact as debris flew in the air.
“It was definitely a wild scene,” Gujarati said. “Especially after the New York scene. That’s what is happening in everyone’s mind.”
The 55-year-old driver was trapped inside his mangled truck. Responding firefighters managed to cut him out of the wreckage.
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“The extraordinary amount of damage made it a difficult operation to extricate the victim,” Atlantic City Fire Department Chief Scott Evans said.
The driver suffered serious injuries though no one else was hurt. While police are trying to figure out what led to the crash, they also say at this time there’s no indication that it was intentional. Despite this, with the incident occurring only hours after the deadly New York attack, Chief Evans said he initially feared the worst.
“When you hear a vehicle speeding down beach block towards the boardwalk, it does cross your mind,” Evans said.
The driver remains in the hospital.
