The driver of a pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer lost its brakes and control on a street in downtown Duluth, Minn., Friday afternoon and collided with four vehicles and slammed into a light pole before coming to a stop three blocks later.
Duluth police say that property damage is estimated at $100,000.
The driver of the truck owned by Hanco Utilities of Lake Nebagamon, Wis., was pulling a flatbed trailer loaded with an excavator down 2nd Avenue West around 12:50 p.m. when he said the brakes went out and he was unable to stop. He traveled three blocks along the avenue and crashed into two parked cars and two occupied vehicles before coming to rest against the wall of a parking ramp on Michigan Avenue, police said.
The truck also took down two light poles owned by the City of Duluth. One pole fell on top of a car parked in the US Bank Parking Ramp on Michigan Avenue, police said.
An inspection of the pickup truck revealed that a brake line on the truck had burst and that brakes that were out of adjustment on the trailer, which hindered the driver's ability to stop. The weight of the load on the trailer and the grade of 2nd Avenue West also were contributing factors, police said.
No one was injured.
