A police investigation is underway into a tragic crash in Belleville, Ont. that left a truck driver dead and a house partially demolished.
It is unclear what caused the driver to lose control of the transport truck on Old Highway 2, Monday afternoon, which then plowed into a home, tearing off a portion of the front porch and causing a gaping hole in its wood-framed corner.
“At about 1:30 in the afternoon, Belleville police along with fire and paramedics, we attended on Old Highway 2, for a single motor vehicle collision”, says Const. Scott Tinsley with Belleville police, “… where a transport had run off the road and struck a house.”
Jennifer Labelle, the home owner, told Global News she was sitting inside at the home’s front window, facing the front porch.
Labelle says she suddenly heard and then saw the transport truck careen across her front yard, ripping off a portion of the porch roof and then striking the side of the house, just a metre away from where her husband, Moe, was sleeping.
Both Jennifer and Moe were not injured, but the driver of the transport, a 59-year-old man from Nobleton, Ont., died of his injuries at Belleville Hospital.
“I can’t comment more on the cause of what happened”, says Tinsley, “… other than the fact we are still investigating it and it is still an open and active investigation.”
This is not the first time an accident has happened like this one on the property at 4954 Old Highway 2 in Belleville.
According to Labelle, just three weeks ago, a car hit a hydro pole in front the home — driving across the front lawn, similar to the transport truck — before missing the house and ending up in a field east of the home.
“We did not have any indication that speed or anything else was a factor, other than maybe an inattentive driver,” says Tinsley. “We had wet roads at that time of the accident.
“We cannot say it was 100 per cent speed.”
“I had residents, particularly a little bit just east of there (the accident scene) … requesting a speed limit reduction.”, says Belleville city councilor Paul Carr.
“Residents there had been complaining that with the traffic volume and speed, they were unable to enter or exit their driveways safely.”
Labelle told Global News that drivers have been speeding past her home since she moved in 15 years ago. Old Highway 2 is a two-lane, heavily-travelled route between Belleville and Tyendinaga Township.
Last week, Belleville city council approved a speed reduction on a stretch of Old Highway 2 just several hundred metres east of Labelle’s home.
Jennifer Labelle and her husband are now staying at a hotel just days before Christmas, until their home can be repaired.
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