Errant truck drives through yard

A Montana 206 resident received all the justification he needed Monday for a household rule barring his 5-year-old daughter from playing on the front lawn.

An unloaded log truck careened through Mike Jung’s property, jumped an embankment and came to rest in a neighbor’s field at about 2:30 p.m.

Jung, 40, said he was inside getting dressed and prepared for an evening shopping trip when he heard the commotion. He looked outside and saw the shape of a truck surrounded by a thick cloud of dust after it passed only feet from his home.

“I took off for the door because I thought he was dead,” Jung said of the driver.

The truck had struck an embankment at Jung’s driveway after traveling off the road near milepost 6. The truck went airborne — apparently clearing a five-foot pole — before landing in a field and narrowly missing two power poles.

Montana State Patrol Trooper Roger Dundas said the driver, a Missoula County man, had a “bump on his right cheek” but was otherwise uninjured.

The driver said he swerved to miss a dog. “It looks like he got too close to the road’s edge and got a little fluctuation pulling that trailer,” Dundas said.

Jung said he and his 20-year-old stepson closed the fuel line on the truck and assisted the driver, who Jung said was in surprisingly good shape. The truck was another story, with the 18-wheeler transformed into a pile of twisted metal and broken glass.

“I thought it was coming through the house,” Jung said. “It’s an experience I’ll always remember.”

The driver of the truck was cited for careless driving.