JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Exclusive video shows the terrifying moments a truck driver crashed into a local food truck, leaving the owner hurt, in the hospital and without his business.
It all happened on Saturday in the middle of the afternoon, but, for the first time, the owner of A&D Wings food truck spoke out, only to Action News Jax.
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A normal Saturday on the job turned chaotic in the terrifying situation. The owner, Shedrick Rogers, made an effort to escape when he saw the pickup truck coming.
“I (was) literally cooking and there was nothing I could do in that moment,” he said.
Rogers has owned the business for four years and has been in this spot off Lem Turner for roughly five months, but nothing like this has ever happened before. He says the truck hit the passenger side of his food truck, knocking him over and pinning him inside with hot grease.
“My son yelled, ‘Dad! Dad!’ and I said ‘I see him, I see him!’ and at this point he is getting closer and closer,” Rogers said. “Knocked me over, pushed deep freezer on me and now I’m pinned with all this hot grease just pouring on me.”
The crash was caught on multiple cameras. One shows the driver of the truck speed over a curb straight into the parking lot and the other shows it crashing right into Rogers’ food truck.
The owner of Georgia Boy BBQ & Bistro Sammi Solomon saw the crash and tried to help.
“The guy that was driving, we had to yank him out and Shedrick, poor thing in the back, he was laying in all that grease,” Solomon said.
The aftermath shows the destruction and the food truck. Solomon is hoping Rogers has a full and speedy recovery, saying he and his food help bring positivity to the community.
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“He has been here about 5 months, real good guy, really nice to the neighborhood everybody in the neighborhood likes him,” he said. “We need him and I hope he gets better and I hope he gets back his spot... here.”
The injuries and burns are too graphic to show. Rogers said he will be in his second surgery soon and that his son also got hurt. While you’d normally catch his food truck operating Tuesday-Saturday, that spot will be vacant for the time being.
“One incident and one accident could change the rest of your life, change the business,” he said. “Me making money every day, being able to support, pay my rent bills everything, it’s all gone.”
Action News Jax has been told an arrest was made. We requested the reports with the case on Monday and have also reached out to JSO to confirm that information but are waiting to hear back.
Rogers said his truck and all of its parts cost roughly $60,000. He is hoping he can get back on track once he is out of the hospital.
“I had to lose my business and go through what I went through. As long as we are alive we will get it back,” he said. “We will get it back.”
A GoFundMe has been set up by Rogers’ cousin Danielle Walker. To donate, click here.
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