A truck traveling south on Memorial Drive veered off the road Tuesday night and struck seven of the Avon Auto Broker car dealership's vehicles, sending one right into employee Roberto DaSilva.
AVON – He heard the bangs and saw the cars fly into the air, but all Brockton resident Roberto DaSilva found himself able to do was freeze in place and brace for impact.
DaSilva, 46, a father of four and car salesman at Avon Auto Brokers on Memorial Drive in Avon, was working to prepare a vehicle for delivery to a customer Tuesday evening when he got the shock of his life.
A truck traveling south on Memorial Drive had veered off the road and struck seven of the dealerships cars, sending one right into DaSilva.
The hood of one of the cars hit him on his left side, he said.
“The noise started like, ‘pop, pop,’ and I thought it was a tornado or something,” he said. “You can’t do anything, you can’t run or go down, you just stand there.”
DaSilva was transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital with minor injuries. Several vehicles that appeared to be for sale in the Avon Auto Brokers parking lot sustained significant front-end damage.
DaSilva was released from the hospital around 9 p.m. Tuesday. He said he’s sore and has had a hard time sleeping in bed, but feels fortunate that he was not more seriously injured.
“One, two seconds before, I was right by the car that got the most damage,” he said.
He said the passenger of the vehicle came over and apologized to him after the crash.
Avon Police Chief David Martineau told The Enterprise Wednesday that the driver, 23-year-old Joseph Harrington of Whitman, is expected to be charged in the crash.
“There will be charges, but we haven't narrowed down to which ones yet – likely a marked lanes violation and probably operating to endanger or negligent operation,” he said. “We were pretty lucky that no one got seriously injured.
DaSilva, a five-year veteran of the dealership, said the busy road, which connects Avon to Brockton, is a hot spot for speeding and is typically very busy.
“They need to do something about this area,” he said.
Tuesday’s crash was the second local incident to involve a vehicle leaving the road and destroying a dealership’s stock in recent weeks.
A Brockton teenager was eastbound on Brockton Avenue on Dec. 29 when he claims he fell asleep and lost control of his vehicle, slamming into six parked vehicles at Midway Auto.
No one was injured in that crash.
Got news tips? Contact Tom Relihan at trelihan@enterprisenews.com, or (508)427-4014.