A truck driver following GPS directions made a wrong turn this morning and wound up driving over two miles on a boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Police Spot Semi On Boardwalk In Early Morning Hours
An officer with the Ventnor City Police Department spotted the wayward truck around 5:30 a.m. near the Washington Avenue section of the boardwalk. Though the officer thought that the truck could be on the boardwalk as part of a dune replenishment project, he decided to investigate the incident further.
The truck driver told the police officer that he had followed his GPS onto the boardwalk at the wide Atlantic City entrance. He drove nearly three miles and was unable to exit the boardwalk.
According to Police Chief Douglas H. Biagi,
“He had zero explanation. I mean, the ocean is on one side, there are railings on both sides. There’s no mistaking you are on the boardwalk.”
According to reports, the truck damaged about 100 feet of boardwalk railings.
Removal Process Takes Four Hours
It took four hours to remove the truck from the boardwalk. The Ventnor City Public Works Department was forced to remove 100 feet of railings in order to give the truck enough room to turn around. The cab of the truck was also detached from the trailer. A tow truck was brought in to remove the trailer.
The truck was finally removed from the boardwalk eight hours after it first got on the boardwalk.
City officials will be inspecting the boardwalk for any structural damage caused by the wayward truck.
Police say that drugs and alcohol were not a factor in the incident.
Trucker Ticketed For Off Road Adventure
The truck driver was issued local ordinance citations, but avoided any actual driving citations because, according to the Philadelphia Voice, “he was not on an official highway.”
Biagi expressed astonishment about the incident: “It is something that I haven’t seen in my 31 years. We have seen vehicles up there. We have seen vehicles crashed up there. I have never seen an 18-wheeler that had to be about 80 feet long.”
