Lakebay Post Office hit by truck

Danna Webster, KP News

Lakebay Post Office postmaster Steven Jorgensen cleans up after a truck hit the building on Oct. 11. Photo by Danna Webster, KP News

A white Dodge pick-up slammed into the front window of the Lakebay Post Office in Home late Sunday afternoon, Oct. 11.  Lakebay Postmaster Steven Jorgensen thought the driver must have forgotten to set the brake when he pulled in for gasoline across the street at the Shell station. Jorgensen swept up glass and declined help from one postal carrier and her daughter who drove over when they heard the news.

At the same time, neighbors were phoning Shell employee, Wayne Cecchino, to offer help because they learned that Cecchino’s 1984 Mazda pickup was damaged in the same accident. Cecchino reported that a full sized white Dodge pickup pulled in for gas at the station. When the driver got out, the truck began to roll. “He started to walk into the store,” Cecchino said, “and when he walked into the store, the truck left.”

The Dodge truck headed straight for Cecchino’s Mazda pickup which was parked between the station and the Home Store. It hit the Mazda’s left rear wheel well causing the Mazda to spin around and plough through the Shell station split-rail fence. The Dodge careened off the Mazda, crossed the Key Pen Highway, and smashed into the front of the Lakebay post office building bursting the frame and siding, shattering the front window, and demolishing concrete flower pots.

Pierce County Sheriff’s department reports the 1998 white Dodge pickup belongs to Rodney Burden of Lakebay. According to the report, the accident occured about 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.  Burden was traveling north on Key Peninsula Highway and pulled in to pump gas with the vehicle pointing north at a pump near the highway.  As Burden walked toward the store, another patron yelled that his truck was rolling. He looked back and saw his truck roll backwards, hit Cecchino’s Mazda pickup and continued to roll across the highway, over the planter in front of the post office and strike the front side of the post office. Burden’s vehicle was unoccupied. There was no arrest and both of the vehicles involved were driven away from the scene.