Runaway bulldozer damages three Broken Arrow homes

A runaway unoccupied bulldozer damaged three Broken Arrow homes early Wednesday morning. <br/><br/>The monster-sized machine created a real-life nightmare for two Broken Arrow families. They were asleep

Wednesday, January 26th 2005, 11:42 am

By: News On 6

A runaway unoccupied bulldozer damaged three Broken Arrow homes early Wednesday morning.

The monster-sized machine created a real-life nightmare for two Broken Arrow families. They were asleep in their beds when a runaway bulldozer came crashing into their homes.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says it was a big bulldozer and it caused a lot of damage.

It tore into three homes in the 2000 block of North 6th Street like a tornado. One of the homes was under construction and not occupied.

Michelle Hammond thought it was thunder that she heard. Seconds later, the wall of her bedroom started caving in and her husband, Pete, yelled at her to start running. The bulldozer stopped just a couple of feet from their bed. It also ripped off the corner of their neighbor's house before it crashed into theirs. As bad as it was, everyone knows it could have been even worse. â€œI didn't really realize it at the time until you come back and look and see how close it was, and how big it was and why did it stop? That's my question. We were just so lucky."

Broken Arrow Police don't know who started the machine. The owners say the keys were "not" in the machine Tuesday night, but they say there is a universal key that will start all bulldozers of that type.

Anyone with information about this incident are asked to call Broken Arrow Police at 451-8314.