ARLINGTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Two people were rushed to the hospital Friday after a van crashed into a home in Arlington.
The van was parked at the top of a hill on Sunset Road as a chimney sweep arrived to do some work. He did not put on the emergency brake and the van started rolling down the street, crashing into the house.
The driver and another man attempted to stop the van by jumping into it. Police said the driver was knocked down and was found laying in the middle of the street when officers arrived. The passenger was still inside the van when it began rolling. In an attempt to stop the van, the passenger grabbed the wheel, resulting in it crashing into the home.
“It was a bizarre way to wake up,” John Gattinella said. “It was a chimney sweep van that I guess was going to service a house up the hill there, and the e-brake, from what I heard, didn’t stick and the van rolled, unattended. So it basically ghost-drove itself down here.”
Gattinella said his wife had just left for work before the crash.
“She could’ve been walking down and who knows,” he said.
Friday morning, a building inspector checked out the damage as officers investigated.
“Its just a very strange, strange incident,” Gatinella said. “It’s hard to contemplate how something could crash into these stairs.”
The injuries have been described as non-life threatening.
A 45-year-old New York man has been cited for failing to secure a motor vehicle when exiting.
Building inspectors were able to determine that aside from the front steps, the house was structurally alright.
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