Unoccupied Truck Careens Down Comm Ave.; Crashes at BC

An unoccupied truck carrying insulation materials careened down Commonwealth Avenue Wednesday morning before coming to rest precariously in hedges lining the Boston College campus just west of St. Ignatius Church.

The truck, Newton Fire Capt. Mike Smith said, was unoccupied and parked in the eastbound lane just to the west of where the carriage way begins. Smith said the truck began rolling down the hill, veering into the westbound lane, where it struck another car causing minor damage to that vehicle.

The driver of the other car was uninjured, Smith said.

Smith speculated that the contact with the other car sent the truck back into the eastbound lane, where it then jumped the curb and sidewalk before coming to rest in the hedges at the top of a steep embankment.

"How the truck didn't just go down the hill, I don't know," Smith said. "That's a steep embankmant."

The truck came to rest about 50 feet from Gabelli Hall, a residential building at 80 Commonwealth Ave.

Smith said officials did not yet know whether the truck's braking equipment simply failed or if it wasn't properly engaged.

The driver of the truck had been located and told officials that there were bags of asbestos in the back. For that reason, Smith said, emergency officials were being especially careful when it came to removing the truck.