Nancy Krause; Reporting by Chantee Lans
Published: August 11, 2015
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WPRI) —
A large sinkhole opened up on a street in Central Falls Tuesday, prompting a dramatic rescue when a pickup truck got partially swallowed up inside.
ReportIt photos sent in by Eyewitness News viewers showed the pickup truck stuck in the hole on Hunt Street with water all around.
As of Tuesday night, it was unknown if a water main break or the rain caused the road to buckle.
Joe Kentunes was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the pavement gave way.
“I go over there at the liquor store, the guy’s closed. I come back, splat! Forget it,” Kentunes, a native of Portugal, said. “My truck go down.”
Luckily, Lt. Burt Horton of the Central Falls Police Dept. was nearby.
“I was working a detail one block up the street. One of the construction workers said he saw something out here. I looked up, saw the truck pretty much as it is now,” Horton said. “I pulled my vehicle over and I went up to the truck. I made sure he was okay and go him out of the truck.”
A deputy fire chief on scene said if the Kentunes truck went down another foot into that sinkhole, he could have died. However, he lived to tell the tale.
“I’m alright. I’m okay,” Kentunes said.
ReportIt! Photo