85-foot crane crashes down on home in New Jersey
TINTON FALLS, New Jersey (WABC) -- An 85-foot crane came down on a home in New Jersey Wednesday morning, sending the homeowner scrambling for safety.
It happened at a house on Surrey Lane just before 11 a.m., with the boom, a cable and a weight coming down across the entire structure.
Officials say a tree removal service had finished cutting down a tree and was in the process of taking down the crane when the truck began to tilt, sending the crane onto the one-story house.
The homeowner, Palmer Dubel, did not want to talk, but his father told Eyewitness News that his son spent a year getting the home exactly as he wanted when the branches began to scrape the house, prompting the call to the company.
"Literally, literally just finished the house," dad Jim Dubel said. "I mean, he was upset because there's a scratch on it yesterday. Look, he put his whole life savings into this, and it's smashed up. So I don't know what we're going to do, or what he's going to do. I mean, everybody's still not right."
Palmer Dubel was apparently watching the work get done at the time and had to jump out of the way of the falling debris. He then used a ladder to help the crane operator out of the vehicle.
The homeowner suffered scratches to his arms, but no serious injuries were reported.
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