Tanker truck slams into car collision center in Murrysville

MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — A Murrysville business is facing a hefty cleanup after a large tanker truck slammed into the side of its building Friday afternoon.

PHOTOS: Tanker truck slams into car collision center in Murrysville

“I was pretty shocked. You don’t see it every day,” said Brian Bour, who was biking nearby when it happened.

The tanker truck crashed into the Bowser Collision Center on William Penn Highway around 3 p.m.

“That is very ironic. Very ironic that a tanker crashed into a collision center,” said another biker, Mason Lisovich.

The tanker, meant for carrying water, was empty.

Emergency officials say the driver was heading east on Route 22 when he lost control, barreling through the auto body shop parking lot and into the building.

He was taken to the hospital by medics but is expected to be okay.

“He had some difficulties coming off the highway, lost control, ended up going approximately 30 feet into the building,” said Murrysville Fire Chief Pat O’Mahony.

The truck plowed into the shop’s office space.

Manager Derek Severns was in his office about 10 feet away.

Another employee was even closer to the impact.

Luckily none of the workers were hurt.

“It was just kind of shock[ing]. It didn’t even really register what happened. You knew what happened but it just kind of didn’t really register,” said Severns.

For Bowser Collision, the cleanup will be extensive, but that’s not stopping the company from carrying on business and serving customers.

“We have a Chevy dealership on route 286, Bowser Chevy, so we’re going to set up an office over there, have all the office workers go over there next week, call customers, explain what happened, move our appointments to there,” said Severns.”

In addition to the damage to the building, owner Gary Bowser says there were two or three cars that were also damaged by the out-of-control tanker truck.

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