No Injuries After Trailer Comes Loose from Truck and Stops in Front of Hoover Olde Plank Road Restaurant

In an accident eerily reminiscent of a 2006 fatal crash in which a wood chipper plowed into a minivan on Route 8 in Richland Township, a trailer loaded with paving equipment came loose from the truck hauling it Tuesday afternoon and crashed into the landscaping in front of

No one was injured, according to restaurant owner Bob Hoover Jr., who just bought the restaurant Sept. 1 from his father.

The trailer came loose from a Rock Bottom Paving truck with a Delaware license plate. The truck stopped north of the site, in front of Northwest Savings Bank at the corner of Route 8 and Central Drive in Middlesex Township.

The trailer took out the restaurant's sign, mailbox, landscaping and gas meter, said Bob Hoover Sr. The gas was not leaking, he added. A small hole in the roof was created by flying debris, said Hoover Sr.

"But nobody got hurt and that's the most important thing," his son said.

"The first thing you think of is that accident years ago down by . You think how much worse it could have been," said Bob Hoover Jr., the third-generation owner of the restaurant.

He was referring to the 2006 accident in which a wood chipper came loose from the truck pulling it and slammed into a minivan, killing the driver and two of his 4-year-old triplets. The third triplet survived, though he was seriously injured.

The two accident sites are about a mile and a half apart.

The senior Hoover said he was in the kitchen in the back of the restaurant when he heard the crash.

"The girls came running from the dining room and said something hit the building," he said. "We heard it in the kitchen."

He lamented that his son has owned the restaurant for only two weeks "and this happened."

"We just did renovations to the place, just had the parking lot done and then this," said the younger Hoover as he looked around at the damage.

Middlesex Township fire and police departments responded, as did and .

Traffic on Route 8 was moving steadily as of 6:30 p.m. as police and fire personnel were still on the scene. By 7 p.m., the emergency personnel were gone.