A moving van made an unexpected house call in Sandy Springs on Monday afternoon when its brakes apparently gave way and the vehicle rolled downhill out of control, police said.
A homeowner sitting in the living room of the house happened to look up, saw the truck bearing down on him and ran out of the way just before the vehicle plowed into the home, police said. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The mishap happened about 12:30 p.m. in the 5600 block of Colton Drive, according to Capt. Steve Rose, spokesman for the Sandy Springs Police Department.
A Mark the Mover of Atlanta crew had parked the truck heading downhill and were loading furniture for a family who was moving out of a home in that location, Rose said.
“According to the employees, the emergency brake was set and they had a block on the front, and it’s believed the weight of the items being put in the van somehow made the block break,” Rose told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview.
There were two workers on the truck, he said. One jumped as the vehicle began rolling, and the other rode it all the way down.
“The van then rolled about 200 yards directly into the living room of a house” on a cul de sac at the end of the street, Rose said.
“The owner of the house was sitting in his living room, heard a noise and looked outside and saw this large truck coming at him. He got out of the way,” the police spokesman said. “The not-so-lucky thing for the homeowner is that the truck went between two large trees and cleared them by a couple of feet on either side that would have stopped it.”
The homeowner, Dan Forrester, told Channel 2 Action News that he was sitting at a table, eating lunch, when he looked up and saw trouble coming.
“I’m really thankful that I saw it,” he said. “I’m pretty shook up right now.”
Forrester said this is the second time a vehicle hit his house. Last month, a Mini Cooper ran into the garage.
“It rolled down and did some pretty minor damage compared to this,” he said.
Rose estimated the moving van may have been going about 20 mph when it struck the house.
“There’s significant damage to the house,” Rose said. The impact “completely ruined the living room and heavily damaged the kitchen and hallway, and the house appears to have some structural damage to it.”
The front end of the truck also was heavily damaged, Rose said. Moving crews were at the scene Monday afternoon transferring furniture from the disabled truck to another van. The police investigation was continuing, and no citations had been issued.
Forrester said a construction crew will need to reinforce the second floor of his house before the truck can be moved.
When contacted by Channel 2, a moving company official declined to answer questions.
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