Truck crashes into a Tulsa home

An early Friday morning traffic accident sends a semi into a Tulsa house. <br/><br/>About 3 AM Friday, the driver of a northbound truck on Riverside Drive apparently fell asleep at the wheel. He ran

Friday, April 7th 2006, 5:25 am

By: News On 6

An early Friday morning traffic accident sends a semi into a Tulsa house.

About 3 AM Friday, the driver of a northbound truck on Riverside Drive apparently fell asleep at the wheel. He ran off the road, through a couple of fences and into a house near 37th Place and Riverside Drive.

News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin talks to the woman who woke up with a truck inches away from her bed.

"I didn't hear anything I didn't feel anything, I just woke up and knew something was wrong." At first, Rachel Beck was asleep in her bed and she had no idea what happened. "It knocked the mini-blinds out of my window and the lights were shining right into my window, so I realized there was something bright and I could smell the diesel."

She looked outside and was shocked to find a semi truck stuck in the side of her house. Beck grabbed her kids and called 911; worried the puddle of diesel would burst into flames.

Beck wasn't the only one asleep. She says the driver told her he nodded off at the wheel and woke up crashing through her back fence. Beck has long had worries about Riverside Drive, saying people speed by her home all the time. "But I didn't think it would ever really happen. Especially a semi truck."

She says the driver repeatedly apologized.

Knowing she and her kids are safe, Beck is now in pretty good spirits about the whole thing. Still she's amazed, that an out of control semi stopped just before it was too late. "I just kept thinking that if he'd had a trailer, if he was going faster, I mean it would've killed me."

Tulsa Police say they found no evidence of drugs or alcohol and that the driver, Mark Jacobs just fell asleep. Police say he was only going about 5 to 10 miles an hour.

Jacobs was cited for failure to remain alert.