Truck plows through Albuquerque family’s apartment, police investigate

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Another bad crash on Lead Avenue is under investigation, this time involving a truck that ran through an apartment. It happened on Lead Avenue near Sierra Drive SE, just west of Washington Street.

Albuquerque Police responded to the La Mariana apartment complex Friday, before 10 a.m. Witnesses say the truck crashed into a lower-level apartment on the east side of the complex after trying to avoid hitting another car. KRQE News 13’s camera captured the truck amid a massive pile of wreckage in the apartment which left exposed support beams.

A mother and son who live in the apartment weren’t home at the time of the crash. Neighboring apartment resident, Laurie Boxer says she was inside her nearby unit when she heard the crash and came out to find the wreckage and the truck’s driver. Boxer says that driver was in shock, claiming he tried to avoid crashing into another car.

“He said, ‘Ma’am I tried, I tried to stop, I couldn’t avoid hitting him,’” Boxer said, recalling a conversation she had with the truck driver involved in the crash. “He was out of the vehicle, coherent but you could tell he was in shock.”

Boxer, who works in the medical field, said the truck driver had some injuries that she helped treat before medics arrived. She also saw a blue sedan leave the scene without any damage. The apartment complex lost power as a result of the crash and the building is now being evaluated for structural concerns, according to neighbors.

“By the grace of God, my son was not there, neither one of us were there,” said Mellia Walker, who lives in the apartment that was hit by the truck. Walker say the family was out at an appointment when the crash happened, but normally her son spends much of the day at home attending virtual classes.

“We’re going to reach out to the Red Cross to try and get some accommodations,” Walker said. “Our neighbors are going to have to do the same because not only did the driver hit a pole, he hit a transformer, so the power is going to be out.”

Bad crashes are nothing new on Lead and Coal Avenue. The east-west route between downtown Albuquerque and the near Heights was the subject of a two-part crash data investigation by KRQE News 13 in 2021. In 2022, the city placed speed cameras on Lead and Coal. Speaking of traffic on Lead Friday, Laurie Boxer called the roadway “the worst.”

“You can be going the speed limit and people will be honking at you, saying, ‘what the heck!'” Boxer said. “It’s pretty dangerous on Lead Avenue.”

The Walker family has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover expenses lost due to the damage.