Holy Crap

Today started off like any other normal day.  I went to a commercial audition this morning.  Ran a few errands, stopped by the bank, and picked up some groceries.  My husband and I and our dog had just parked our car on the street next to the park outside our building.  "Oh look," I said as I pointed to a couple with their young son, "They're playing croquet."  As we continued walking towards our building, we suddenly heard abnormally loud sounds and crashes coming from up the street.  It sounded like Godzilla was walking towards us.

When we looked up, we saw a garbage truck (one of those extremely large heavy NYC garbage trucks that weighs about a ton) rolling down the sidewalk taking down everything in its path - trees, lights, lamp posts, signs.  There was a UPS truck parked in its way, so it slammed into the UPS truck pushing it down the street, which was when my husband grabbed me and yelled, "GO! RUN!!"   Without having any idea which way the vehicles were headed, I dropped one of my bags as we bolted.  The dog took off like lightning with her tail between her legs. 

The garbage truck crashed into a parked Jetta on the street pushing it over the curb completely totaling it.  But that still didn't stop the garbage truck.  It smashed over and uprooted this huge electrical box, squeezed in between two trees stripping the bark of their trunks, and continued to roll down the hill through the park.  While I tried to get a hold of the dog, my husband ran off after the runaway garbage truck yelling to anyone in the park who might be in its path to look out and get out of the way.

The garbage truck rolled all the way to the water until it finally crashed into a park bench and stopped.  Completely confused and stunned, I went back to retrieve the bag I had dropped, which I found lying right next to the Jetta. 

My husband called 9-1-1.  The couple and their son hadn't moved an inch beyond turning their heads to watch this enormous garbage truck coast past them (they were completely safe and fine, thank goodness).  And in a matter of seconds, the entire area was filled with firemen, police officers, and neighbors all repeating over and over again, "Thank GOD no one was hurt!"

I still can't believe it.  That was the craziest shit I've ever seen.

--Ming Ming