Truck Hits Bridge, Concrete Chunks Hit Passerby

To read a full interview with the victim of this crash, click here. 

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Just after 9 a.m. Tuesday, a boom truck hit the underside of the Highway 7 bridge that spans Interstate 494, sending chunks of concrete flying into the air. One of those chunks smashed through the windshield of a Hyundai Veracruz that was traveling behind the boom truck, injuring that car’s driver.

The injured driver, 48-year-old Daniel Sinner of Eagan, was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital with non-life-threatening facial injuries. He has since been treated and released.

According to Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske, Sinner was “able to maintain control of the vehicle and stop” immediately following the incident. 

“It [the boom] was elevated. It struck a number of sections of the bridge,“ Roeske said. “He [the truck driver] realized he had hit something [but] didn’t realize what had happened initially.”

According to Roeske, the boom truck’s driver, Myron Lesley, 51, told investigators that he had forgotten to drop down the boom after his last delivery. The truck delivers mobile storage units and dumpsters. 

"There is damage on the 494 bridge," Minnetonka Police Sgt. Tim Mulcrone told Patch in the moments following the accident. 

And after close inspection, MnDOT investigators found that three of the bridge’s beams were damaged. Just before noon, however, inspectors deemed the bridge safe and reopened the two lanes of northbound Interstate 494 that has been closed due to the incident.  

The operator of the boom truck, Commercial Container out of Golden Valley, had no comment on the accident. 

The penalty for the boom truck’s driver must still be determined, according to a law enforcement official. The height of the Highway 7 bridge is 16 feet 9 inches while the maximum legal vehicle height in Minnesota is 13 feet 6 inches. The height of the boom truck at the time it hit the bridge hasn't been released. 

Roeske remarked that this incident could have been much worse.

“It’s very dangerous if a piece of concrete comes through your windshield,” he said. “This could have been deadly.”