Officials checking extent of damage
ZELIENOPLE — Park United Presbyterian Church has been left with a lot of uncertainty after its building was badly damaged Monday when a truck crashed into it.
Pastor Paul Merrill said Monday afternoon that he is unsure of the extent of the damage and he doesn't know when the congregation will be able to use its building again.
The accident happened around 8:45 a.m. when a Mack CL700 dump truck driven by David Cumming, 53, of Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, traveling west on Route 68, veered off the road.
The truck hit a utility pole, a parked car in the church parking lot and then ran into the side of the church, said Sgt. Chuck Carlson of Zelienople police.
In addition to the church, which may have structural damage, the incident caused a power outage and road closure.
Cumming was not issued a ticket or charged with any crimes by the police. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
“What he told us is he hit the brakes and they locked up,” Carlson said.
Cumming was shaken up and taken to UPMC Passavant Cranberry for evaluation.
The truck is owned by Diamond Head Trucking Co., based in Ambridge, Beaver County. The company declined to comment on the incident.
The collision impacted both the sanctuary and the downstairs nursery area of the church. Damage included the bricks on the exterior of the building, the wood paneling underneath the bricks and the stained glass windows on the south wall of the sanctuary. The church's wooden sign and a bench that used to sit on the building's front lawn were both destroyed, Merrill said.
Merrill said no one was in the church at the time of the crash, but he heard it happen from his residence next door.
“I heard multiple slashings and crashings; it sounded like a multicar collision,” he said.
The Baden Fire Department specializes in stabilizing buildings with structural damage and was brought in to “shore up” the corner of the building so the truck could be safely removed Monday afternoon, said borough manager Don Pepe.
Engineers from both the church and Diamond Head Trucking's insurance companies inspected the building Monday. Merrill said the church would not have a full estimate of the damage until its claims adjuster visits the building Wednesday. In the meantime, the church will be unable to use its main building, though it does have another small building on the property.
“It's just a building; the church is the people,” Merrill said. “We have insurance and they have insurance. It will just be an inconvenience for a couple of weeks.”
FireDEX emergency service unit based in Cranberry Township, hired by the church to clean up the debris, put up an orange construction fence around the affected area due to the potential hazard of bricks or debris falling off the building.
Police Chief Jim Miller said a small area in Four Corners Park would likely still be roped off for Horse Trading Days, which starts Thursday and uses the park for its vendors. Miller said he expects the sidewalk to be reopened by then and the impact on the festival to be minimal.
The church also has a vacation Bible school planned for next week, which may have to change locations.
The top of the utility pole the truck hit broke off causing power lines to come down. Emergency responders closed a portion of the road while the power lines were replaced.
Rob Lombardo, area manager for Penn Power, said that 995 customers in the Harmony area lost power for about two hours due to the accident. Borough electric customers were not affected.
The utility crews first restored power to its customers by rerouting electricity through different lines, Lombardo said. It then installed a new pole to replace the broken one and put the lines back up. The road reopened late Monday afternoon.
