Worker Recalls Moment When Truck Slammed Into Sporting Goods Store
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – When a truck slammed into a sporting goods store over the weekend, it narrowly missed a mom and her young children.
Video from Sunday's incident at the Play It Again Sports in Woodbury shows the people inside the store didn't have much time to react.
"It just happened so fast," said Corey Kreager, who works at the store.
He says he's lucky to be alive after a full-size truck came crashing through the window near where he was helping a woman and her children.
"The woman was sitting there, the kid was sitting here, I was helping out," he said. "I was standing right here, the car came through and pushed me up to the second counter."
Kreager says he jumped onto the counter, out of the way of the truck.
"Once I felt my body was OK, I immediately thought of that kid being under that truck," Kreager said.
Seconds later, he jumped into action.
"I just remembered she had a little baby in the car seat, so I thought of that," Kreager said. "I was screaming, 'Back the truck up! Back the truck up! The baby, the baby!'"
Kreagar and the mom, who suffered a compound fracture, did what they could to get the baby out from underneath the truck.
"Probably the best thing that happened was the baby was totally fine," Kreager said. "The car seat saved him."
Meanwhile, Kreager is nursing his wounds.
"I'm bruised all over a little bit," Kreager said.
He is hoping the young driver, whom he says is a good kid, is not too shaken up by the incident.
"He's a regular customer," Kreager said. "He comes in and gets his skates sharpened all the time. He just got his permit. I guess you can't be mad at him. It's just a mistake, and it could have happened to anybody."
Woodbury police say the teen driver mistook the accelerator pedal for the brake pedal. His father was in the truck with him at the time of the accident.
Police did not give the teen a citation but they say he will be given a driver's evaluation before he is allowed back behind the wheel.
