Monster truck crashes into crowd of spectators

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Monster truck crashes into crowd of spectators in DeKalb
Associated Press
4:46 PM CDT, August 9, 2007

DEKALB, Ill. - A monster truck performing stunts in front of an auto parts store veered into a crowd of spectators Thursday, injuring at least nine people, officials said.

Nine people, including a mother with four children, were taken to Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, and one was later transported to St. Anthony Hospital in Rockford, hospital officials said.

All were in fair condition, and one person was being evaluated for possible admission to the hospital, Kishwaukee hospital spokeswoman Sharon Emanuelson said. Another three people signed releases refusing medical treatment, DeKalb Fire Chief Lanny Russell told The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle.



As part of the demonstration, part of a monster truck tour sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts, the truck drove over four cars, crushing them.

"After its third or fourth attempt of rolling over the cars, and getting back down to the street, it appeared to have lost control and at that point careened off to the left into part of the crowd that was watching the event," said City Manager Mark Biernacki.

After plowing through the crowd, the truck went through a fence and stopped on railroad tracks nearby, Biernacki said.

Biernacki said the accident occurred at about 2 p.m. and the truck driver did not appear to be injured.

"There was just this sound of steel crunching," DeKalb resident James Vesely told the DeKalb newspaper. "I ran over to see if it hit anybody's car, and I saw a woman and a little girl around 3 years old lying on the ground with dirt on them."

NAPA officials on the scene declined to comment, the newspaper reported.

Tim Scanlan, a general manager at NAPA Auto Parts' Midwest distribution center in Naperville, said a monster truck had been at the company's DeKalb store on Thursday, but declined to comment on the whether it was involved in an accident.

"I don't know very many details of it at all," he said.

A telephone message left Thursday for a spokesman at NAPA's parent company could not immediately be reached for comment, and the telephone at the auto parts store near the accident site was busy.

DeKalb police would not immediately comment.

The manager of a bicycle shop on the block where the accident happened said he didn't see the incident but saw the truck performing stunts beforehand, and estimated at least 100 people were watching.

"It looked very precarious," said Tobie DePauw, manager of North Central Cyclery.



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Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press


Just saw this on the local news, hope all are allright