Tractor Trailer Collides Into Western New York Business

A scary situation occurred just down the road from the Buffalo Niagara Airport on Monday evening. 

A car was coming out of the Gateway Apartments, located on 5001 Transit Rd in Depew when a semi-truck was traveling down Genesee Street. The semi driver had his son in the passenger seat of the truck. 

To protect both him, his son and the car attempting to pull out of the parking lot, the truck driver attempted to swing the wheel to dodge the vehicle. However, the driver ended up hitting the car, going off the road, and hitting a nearby building. 

You may recognize that building as Monroe Tractor - Buffalo, located at 5035 Genesee St. They are a construction equipment supplier in the Cheektowaga area, which was founded in 1951 by Henry Hansen. Originally, the company started in Rochester, NY but it has now grown to 14 locations. 

One person, who asked to not be identified, told us what led to the crash. 

“Tractor trailer was avoiding a car coming out of Gateway Apartments. The driver and his son were in the passenger vehicle, both were taken to ECMC,” he said. 

The son in the passenger seat of the tractor trailer was a minor, and he is very lucky that his injuries were not severe. There was a picture submitted by someone on scene of the crash, and it shows just how lucky the boy was to make it out of the collision. 

The bar from the building crashed through the windshield and thankfully just missed the boy. 

The truck driver was heading eastbound towards Transit Rd when the car came out of the Gateway Apartments, so he went to the right to avoid hitting the car. However, he ended up hitting the car and going off the road and hitting the nearby building. 

While the father and son in the tractor trailer were admitted into ECMC, it is unclear at this time if those individual(s) in the car also received medical attention. 

When crews responded to the crash, they discovered that the truck broke a water line inside the building, but it appeared that the gas lines remained in tact. 

The building inspector was on site on Monday, and now the location is waiting to be boarded up on the windows before they pull the truck out of the building. Otherwise, it could lead to a potential building collapse. 

No other injuries have been reported at this time, and it looks like everyone is going to be okay.