Video: Semi-Truck Hits Denver Apartment Building, Causes Gas Leak

Residents of the Charleston Apartments in Capitol Hill were left without gas service after a semi-truck struck the building on Sunday, February 22.

A video of the collision shows a C.R. England truck stopped diagonally across 14th Avenue at around 4:30 p.m. The King Soopers-branded trailer blocked all three lanes of traffic, while the cab was parked on top of a townhome’s lawn and sidewalk, mere inches from the front porch. The truck driver is seen exiting the vehicle and walking around, seemingly perplexed about how to get out of the situation.

The truck is then shown reversing toward an alleyway next to the Charleston Apartments at 1100 East 14th Avenue. The driver backed up slowly at first, gently pressing against the building’s exterior gas pipe four times as the pipe visibly shifted. Then he sped up, smashing the trailer into the corner of the brick building and crushing the pipe, with a metal piece flying into the air.

The incident caused a “minimum” of $7,000 to $10,000 in damage to the building, according to Four Star Realty, which manages the Charleston Apartments.

Gas service to the building was shut off due to the broken pipe. Xcel Energy turned off service at 4:40 p.m. on Sunday and restored it on Monday after repairs were completed, according to spokesperson Sydney Isenberg.

“A claim has been filed with the trucking company, C.R. England,” says Four Star Realty in a statement. “Four Star Realty & Property Management responded immediately and completed the necessary gas line repairs to safely restore service to the building as quickly as possible for our residents.”

C.R. England is “working with those affected to repair any damage caused to the building,” says David Allred, the shipping company’s vice president of management services.

Allred declined to comment on whether the truck driver is facing any disciplinary action.

The witness who filmed the collision claims that the truck driver fled the scene without calling emergency services, even after a bystander is shown on video telling the driver that he had struck the building and caused a gas leak.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, the truck and the driver were gone, says Division Chief Robert Murphy of the Denver Fire Department. Murphy adds that the driver did not check in with any first responders. No police report was filed, according to the Denver Police Department.

The video of the incident shared on TikTok has garnered over 68,000 views as of Thursday.