--- title: "Look at the Hole This 73,000-Pound Dump Truck Punched Through an NJ House" date: "2025-05-21" modified: "2025-05-21" authors: - name: "Nico DeMattia" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/nico-demattia" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/a-73000-pound-dump-truck-crashed-through-a-house-in-nj-and-everyone-lived" categories: - "News" --- # Look at the Hole This 73,000-Pound Dump Truck Punched Through an NJ House ![Image of dump truck crashed through home in New Jersey.]() *\ABC6 via YouTube\* Imagine you're sitting in your favorite chair when a [dump truck]() smashes through your house like a 36-ton Kool-Aid man and sends you through two walls. That's what happened to one Woodbury Heights, New Jersey-native this past Tuesday. The driver lost consciousness at the wheel after suffering a medical emergency while hauling a load of concrete sand, and drove straight through the homeowner's house like it was tissue paper. Somehow, everyone made it out alive. In the dashcam video from *[ABC6]()*, you can see the moment when the driver loses consciousness, as the truck starts to veer left across the double yellow lines. According to Charles Zeisloft, owner of the trucking company, the fully loaded dump truck weighed about 73,000 pounds. The chaos such a truck can cause while out of control is unimaginable. And yet, the chaos was kept to a relative minimum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOxelwVp4Hs Outside of smashing through the house, the only damage caused by the runaway truck was to a telephone pole, which was snapped and uprooted like a toothpick after being hit by the massive hauler. Not only did it drive through the telephone pole as if it weren't there, but the impact didn't slow it down. You shudder to think what would have happened if it had a head-on collision with a car in oncoming traffic. Despite its potential for destruction, neither the driver nor the homeowner suffered any life-threatening injuries. While the homeowner was injured, he was conscious and able to call out to his neighbor, who came to help. "I was able to make eye contact with him through a hole where the floor and well had separated, and I was able to talk to him for about 10 minutes until the paramedics got there," neighbor David Keating told *ABC6*. When you see the truck stuck inside the house, it looks like it just made a big hole. However, the house's structure was destroyed and shifted several feet off the foundation. After everyone was pulled out and sent to the hospital, and the truck was removed, the house needed to be torn down by a demolition crew. This could have been so much worse. Not only for the driver and the homeowner, but also for other drivers on the road, a woman who was reportedly walking her child down the same street moments earlier, or anyone who could've been hit by flying debris. Remarkably, no one was critically injured. And now I'm going to fear any heavy truck driving in the opposite direction to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn6-yE7tHiE *Got tips? Send 'em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Nico is a writer and reviewer from New Jersey who probably thinks he’s a lot funnier than he actually is. His love of cars began when he was just a kid playing Gran Turismo 3, grinding out enough race wins with a Mazda Miata to save up for an in-game RUF 911. That passion for small, lightweight sports cars drove his desire to learn more about the industry, get his hands on as many cars as he could, and bring those experiences to life on the page. He cut his teeth writing about BMWs, Volkswagens, and Audis, mostly, and has owned far too many of each. He’s on his fourth 3 Series sedan, but all of his old, cheap German cars have forced him to learn more about car maintenance than his mechanical capability can handle. Too many late nights have been spent scrambling to get a car running by morning so he could get to work. For some reason, he never seems to learn that old Bimmers probably aren’t the best daily drivers. But he loves more than just old German cars. He’ll gladly drive and discuss anything with four (or even three) wheels. Cars aren’t his only passions, though. Nico is also a big nerd and loves movies, video games, comic books, and cares far too much about the New York Giants. So don’t be surprised if you see football references or dumb, obscure movie quotes in any of his car reviews. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()