Video shows truck nearly hitting ice cream shop: "Tragedy was avoided here"

BELLINGHAM - A close call in Bellingham was caught on camera Sunday. Surveillance video shows an apparently speeding truck fly off the road and hit an ice cream shop sign, and then narrowly miss a car with a baby inside.

The red truck is seen veering off Pulaski Boulevard and blasting through the sign of Chevy's Ice Cream Parlor at about 7:30 p.m.

"Like a tornado came through"

"Our sign is blown to smithereens," shop owner Shayna Murray told WBZ-TV. "It was like a tornado came through."

Another camera angle shows the truck just inches away from smashing into an SUV parked nearby. Seconds later, a driver gets out with a baby in her arms.

"When I saw the footage I just could not believe how fast the guy was coming," Murray said.

The Ford F350 driver, 38-year-old Robert Marcoux of Bellingham, is being criminally cited for operating under the influence, operating to endanger, and speeding, police said.

Tragedy avoided with ice cream shop closed

Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. Murray says the business "made a snap decision" not to open despite the nice weather this weekend. She said she can only imagine the crowds of people that would have been in the parking lot, in the path of the oncoming truck.

"An absolute tragedy was avoided here," she said. "That was a big truck and he was going very fast. If you were sitting in his way, you wouldn't have had a chance."

Chevy's says it may take a few days to clean up the mess, but they expect to open for the season soon.