The lorry driver offered no excuse for the trail of destruction left behind after his vehicle careered across a road and into a petrol station forecourt.
Bystanders who saw it smash into a tree and then a parked car near the pumps at the garage in Mankato, Minnesota, were astounded when they realised who, or what, was behind the wheel: an apparently unrepentant labrador.
Police said later that the owner had parked the lorry and left the engine running, with his dog in the passenger seat, while he popped out at about 2pm on Friday. Somehow the vehicle was put into gear and began rumbling slowly through the Wilson Trailer Sales car park, across North River Drive, over a kerb and towards the Kwik Trip petrol station on Highway 169.
David Stegora, who witnessed the incident, said he heard the lorry hit the tree and then crash into a car near the Kwik Trip’s pumps. “I heard the tree snap and I thought somebody decided to turn around, but then it just kept going forward,” he said.
Struggling to understand how the vehicle was moving of its own accord, he stared open-mouthed as the labrador appeared behind the wheel.
Advertisement
Another witness was able to leap into the cab before any further damage was done and switch off the engine.