The truly bizarre scene above greeted me on my 6:30 a.m. turn into the parking lot for a Dollar General, Advance Auto Parts, my local bank (where I was headed to the ATM), and the Aldi grocery you see above.
The lot sits at the Southeast corner of Gallatin and Eastland Avenues. Approaching from the west on W. Eastland, it's a straight shot into the lot and, for the driver of the combo you see in the photo, more or less straight into the Aldi's front door.
You'd really have to do some maneuvering to hit it so straight-on, though, no doubt. Wreckers were on-hand this morning working hard, the tractor was literally somewhere inside the store, and police were gone.
View looking north to the point of impact/Aldi entry
A couple cameramen and -women with the local news milled about, and I spoke to an Advance parts man getting ready to open his store, next-door to the Aldi. "This will really put a damper on business," he said, speculating about the driver's possible brake failure, then adding:
"I mean, the docks are in the back."
This driver apparently opted for front-door service sometime after midnight, according to this report from a local Fox station with surveillace footage appearing to show the truck/reefer combo pulling through the lot before circling back around to approach. According to that report, the truck's driver, ID'd by police as Kristofer Scruggs, admitted to parking the rig right in the front door. He's in custody and charged with the highest vandalism count they've got.
No one was killed or injured, thankfully. Motive? I can't explain it, and police haven't either. We will report more when we know it. Meantime, stay safe out there, everybody.
