A garbage truck lost control of its brakes and swept a car into a house, before crashing into a second house in Castro Valley Thursday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.
One of the home owners on Christy Way, just east of Plymouth Drive, was inside when the truck crashed into it, said CHP Officer Rob Tuazon.
Miraculously, neither she nor the garbage truck driver was hurt, according to Waste Management Communications Manager Karen Stern.
Home owner Lydia Cathey, who was in the house when the truck crashed, said she opened her front door to the sight of a garbage truck in her front yard.
"The guy (driver) was hyperventilating in the front," Cathey said. "But, if it was not for my porch, I wouldn't be here."
The garbage truck driver was on his route when his truck started rolling backwards and hit a power pole and a truck that it sent careening into its owners house before coming to rest in the house next door, according to Tuazon. He wasn't inside the truck, Stern said, because like most drivers, he had hopped out, in order to bring the trash to the truck. It started rolling without him in it.
"The garbage truck weighs about 30,000 pounds and it was half-way through its route so there was 8,000 pounds of cargo on it when it rolled down the hill," Stern said. "The truck will be removed today on a flatbed and examined by a third-party mechanic to see what went wrong."
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In addition to the CHP, the Alameda County Fire Department, and Pacific Gas & Electric were there to help.
No drugs or alcohol are suspected and no criminal chargers are being considered at the time, according to Tuazon.
The driver will be put on administrative leave pending the investigation, Stern said.
