See damage after pickup crashes through Valley home into big rig. Police say it’s happened before
A pickup driver crashed and drove through a vacant Visalia home Saturday morning — the second time he has been involved in similar incidents — then continued through a wooden fence and back onto the road where he collided with a loaded semi-truck, toppling the big rig and spilling its load of produce, police said.
Joshua Hammond, 56, was identified early Saturday afternoon as the driver of the pickup. Police were still trying to determine the connection between the man, the house and the crashes, with the other occurring in 2019.
Alcohol and drugs were not a factor, police said, with the latest incident being investigated for now as a felony vandalism case.
Multiple calls were taken by the Visalia Police Department regarding Saturday’s crash, shortly after 10 a.m., as the wreckage of the two trucks sat on Houston Avenue, east of Ben Maddox Way, according to a news release.
Officers determined Hammond, driving a silver Dodge Ram, was headed north on Stover Street when for some reason he crashed through the home in the 1500 block of east Cecil Avenue.
The pickup exited the back of the house, then went through a wooden fence and onto Houston Avenue where it collided with a semi-truck. The big rig was pulling a trailer full of what appeared to be oranges.
Photos provided by police show the semi and a trailer flipped on their sides, with the produce spilled on the road. The semi-truck was going west on Houston toward Ben Maddox Way, according to the release.
Hammond was taken to Kaweah Health Medical Center. His condition was not available. The semi-truck driver was treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to the release.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Visalia Police Department at 559-734-8116.
This story was originally published May 22, 2021 at 1:53 PM.
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