Hellertown Police late Friday afternoon announced charges against the driver of a work truck that plowed into the front of a downtown Main Street business earlier.
Keith A. Zerby Jr. in a public Facebook profile photo
In a news release, police said Keith A. Zerby Jr., 35, of the 1700 block of Clauser Street in the borough was behind the wheel of the Neighbors Home & Garden Center flatbed truck when it struck three parked cars on the west side of Main Street before careening across the sidewalk and through the front glass window of Vapemeister, a vaporless cigarette store at 650 Main Street, shortly before 1:30 p.m.
No bystanders were reported injured in the accident, but eyewitnesses and residents of the immediate area were reportedly shaken by their close proximity to it, and Main Street was closed in the vicinity of the crash for a couple hours as a result of it.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing Zerby bloody after the accident, and in the news release police said he was receiving medical treatment when he allegedly fled the scene before being apprehended a short time later.
“Zerby is currently in police custody pending charges and preliminary arraignment,” police said.
He is scheduled to be charged with Driving After Imbibing Alcohol/Controlled Substance; Flight to Avoid Apprehension, Trial or Punishment; Escape; and summary traffic offenses, the news release indicated.
A preliminary inspection by borough zoning officials of the two-story building Zerby is charged with driving into did not find any structural damage.
Information about exactly how the accident occurred still has not been released.
Hellertown Police on the scene of an accident at Vapemeister, 650 Main St., in which a truck crashed into the building.
