On Monday July 27, 2015 at approximately 2:30pm the Bridgewater Police and Fire Departments responded to “Just Desserts Bakery” located at 1 Main St. for an accident that involved a tractor trailer striking the building. Upon arrival officers observed a tractor trailer unit that had struck the store front of the business. The trailer of the truck was leaning up against the building with the passenger side tires suspended off of the ground. Fortunately the business was closed at the time of the collision and no one was in the building.
Members of the Bridgewater Fire Department and Inspectional Services were called to the scene to examine the obvious structural damage to the building. Due to the nature of the collision and the positioning of the truck, the truck was unable to be driven from the building. Lynch’s Towing Service of Brockton Mass was called to the scene to lift the trailer from the building. As a result, Main St. (Rt 28) was closed for approximately one hour.
The driver of the tractor trailer, later identified as Thomas Howe of Ofallon IL age 48, stated he was making a right hand turn onto Main St. when a smaller car passed him on the left side causing the truck to swerve to right, which resulted in him cutting the turn short. While making the turn, the trailer struck a traffic light and the front corner of the building, causing major structural damage. There was an independent witness that corroborated that the tractor trailer was cut off by another vehicle. No description was given for the vehicle that fled.
There were no injuries as a result of the collision. The driver of the truck has not been cited.