Onion truck crashes into Palmview house

PALMVIEW — A tractor trailer plowed into a house, spilling its load of onions and sending its driver to the hospital with serious injuries.

Palmview police responded to the accident shortly before noon Wednesday, said Lt. Lenny Sanchez, a department spokesman.

A tractor trailer veered off the westbound Expressway 83 frontage road, crashing into a house at the intersection of Patriot Street.

“The guy was like clear in the middle of the house,” Sanchez said. “You could only see the back part of the trailer from the outside.”

The truck ruptured a water line and knocked down two utility poles, scattering hundreds of onions in the area before it came to rest in the middle of the green, wood frame house.

No one was home at the time of the collision, Sanchez said. Firefighters carved through the interior walls of the house to reach the driver, who was conscious but seriously injured.

The La Homa road exit and frontage road was closed due to the accident, but had re-opened by 3 p.m., Sanchez said.

Investigators still do not know what caused the driver to lose control of his rig. He remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon at McAllen Medical Center.

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.