An Amazon delivery truck flipped and fell down an embankment in Saugus Saturday night.
Resident Maria Lopez said she was returning from the supermarket when the incident happened. She said the driver attempted a three-point turn on Lewis Street, an unpaved road, and struck a telephone pole. The driver then tried to put the vehicle in reverse and got stuck again, she said.
That’s when the van flipped over, crashed through a fence, and proceeded down the hill, only being stopped right side up by two tree stumps, she added.
“I was on the phone with 911 when he started beeping his horn for help,” she said. “That’s when I knew he was alive.”
Saugus firefighter Chris Piscitelli said the driver, in his 30s, was taken to Melrose Wakefield Hospital by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries.
A longtime Springdale Avenue resident, who declined to be identified, said he rushed to the scene after getting a panicked call from a neighbor. If the van wasn’t stopped by the tree stumps, it would have crashed into his house, he said.
“We’ve never had anything like this happen here,” he said.
Richard Ragucci, the owner of 11 Lewis St., said he and his wife were at a family party when they got the call to come home. He noted significant damage to his patio, including two fences taken out and part of his stone wall.
“My wife panicked when we got the call,” he said. “She thought someone got killed. We’re so grateful that didn’t happen.”
Two Amazon employees on scene declined to comment.
It took G&J Towing Inc. with several trucks and a crane, and Saugus firefighters more than an hour to lift the van and place it on Lewis Street.
“I’m just so happy no one died,” said Lopez.
