3 taken to hospital after semi hits White Bear Lake dentist’s office
Three people will be OK after getting hurt when a semi-truck crashed into a White Bear Lake dentistry’s office Monday afternoon.
It happened shortly after 1 p.m. just off of White Bear Avenue and Interstate 694. White Bear Lake police say the semi was headed west on the interstate, took the exit and then crossed all lanes of White Bear Avenue before hitting White Bear Dentists.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash; that’s under investigation. However, part of the semi was in the office.
Police say the driver of the semi and two people inside the office were taken to a hospital with what police considered non-life-threatening injuries.
“Honestly, it’s a miracle that anybody is OK,” said Sebrina Smith, who saw the crash.
“It took me a minute to really figure out what I was even seeing, because [I’ve] never seen anything like that before,” she added.
The office is in a building occupied by several other companies, including a Starbucks — workers there told our 5 EYEWITNESSES NEWS crew on the scene that they could feel the building shake when the crash happened.
Because of the location of the crash, the Starbucks drive-thru was closed off as authorities worked to remove the semi. It took crews about six hours using multiple tow trucks and a crane to move the trailer and remove the truck from the building.
Smith adds while she called 911 right away, many people rushed to offer help.
“[I saw] maybe five vehicles, immediately, [pull] over on the side of the freeway, and people were just running down the embankment [towards] the semi,” Smtih said.
While the president of Bay & Bay Transportation confirmed the semi’s trailer was empty at the time of the crash, they could not share anything about the cause of the crash or the driver.