Friends and family members of Alex and Becky Pfrogner look at the remains of part of the couples' house after a Pepsi-Cola truck lost control driving east on Route 422 and drove through the house. The exposed portion includes the couple's bedroom and also damaged their front porch. Neither were home at the time, and the driver was not injured.
Couple Spared - Not Home at the Time
by Jonathan Weaver
Despite the side of their Plumcreek Township house being destroyed by an out-of-control tractor-trailer truck Tuesday afternoon, Alex and Becky Pfrogner look for the positives.
Nobody was injured.
It can be fixed.
And, all the pets are alive.
An out-of-control Pepsi truck, driven by Ronald Miller of Bedford, took out the couple’s porch and master bedroom after sliding on some gravel beside State Route 422, twisting apart a guardrail and exposing the room to rain.
Both Alex and Becky learned about the crash while they were at work. Alex, a systems analyst at Dollar Bank in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, heard about the crash first.
“I was at work, Becky was at work – it was kind of a blur from there. I was sitting in my car around 1(PM) and got a call that somebody had hit my house with a truck. I had no idea what to expect,” Alex said.
Alex text-messaged Becky while she was at work in Indiana about what happened.
“I was worried about the animals more than anything,” Becky said.
She doesn’t have to worry as much anymore, with the couple’s two cats and a dog secure and the pet mouse, Raj, scurrying about the bedroom. Raj initially was in a tank on a dresser near the closet.
There is neither a closet nor a dresser anymore.
But, Alex remained calm after filing a claim with State Farm insurance.
“(Miller) was very apologetic (and) I said “Don’t worry about it – you’re alive. This is (just) stuff, nobody got hurt,” Alex said. “I don’t want to hold any kind of grudge on anybody, because it can be fixed.”
He relayed a conversation he had with his agent, Brenda.
Becky tries to lure the couple's pet mouse, Raj, away from the wreckage Tuesday evening. They worried it did not survive after his tank was one of the first things smashed during the truck's destruction.
“(They asked) ‘Is there any roof damage?’ I said ‘Yea,” Alex said. “(Then they asked) ‘Are there any jousts down? I told them I don’t think there are any left.”
Alex’s mother, Debbie, who lives near Spring Church, was called by a neighbor shortly after the crash. In some way, she knew the location was dangerous.
“About 15 years ago before me and my husband moved to this area, we looked at this house – drove by – and said ‘No way – too close to the road,’ Debbie said. “And (Alex) ended up buying it – that’s ironic. Pretty crazy.”
Debbie said vehicles that pass others on the highway near the end of the double-lane help cause some of the accidents, but not this one.
The couple, both Elderton High School graduates, has lived in the house since March 2010. They will stay in an Indiana Holiday Inn for up to a week while insurance adjusters visit the home.
Alex said the house was originally built in 1949, with the front portion part of the original structure.
Tarps were put up last night to prevent possible further rain damage.
State police troopers were assisted by Elderton firefighters at the crash.