A Minneapolis business owner escaped without injury after a truck barreled into his studio while he was feet away on Wednesday.

It happened on East Hennepin Avenue at the intersection with Seventh Street Southeast.

Police explained an Xcel Energy truck driver overcorrected while driving through a construction zone. Officials add that a partial collapse happened soon after.

“I was walking toward the door. I heard a large bang, and I turned around and there was a truck in my building right behind me,” Jeffrey Siegel, Supply Studio owner, said.

Just before noon Wednesday, the studio owner escaped what could have been a tragedy by a few feet.

Siegel said the driver of the Xcel truck got out and appeared to be dazed.

“The driver said that he worked his way around the construction cones, hit the base of that temporary street light and that flipped him out of control and into my building,” Siegel said.

Siegel’s wife, Gerri Summerville, got a photo of the damage and rushed over.

They work out of the building together.

Siegel was near the final steps of an artistic project, but the crash tore it apart.

“We’ve been here at night working on this project that he wants to do and it won’t be this year,” Summerville said.

The owner explained they just restored the historic building so that complicates the rebuilding process.
In the busy construction zone, Summerville explained it was only a matter of time before a crash happened.

“I see close calls all the time and people walk down the sidewalk with dogs and children and just everyone needs to slow down,” Summerville said.

Underneath all the destruction, the couple still found a bright side.

“You’ve got to have a sense of humor,” Summerville said. “I’m alive. He’s alive.”

“I’m kind of lighthearted about life in general. You have to take the stress in stride,” Siegel said.

Police note that Hennepin Avenue in front of the business will be closed until the truck is removed from the building.

The driver of the truck is cooperating with authorities.