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Photos: N.C. firefighters extricate injured driver after truck crashes into Walmart

Central Alexander crewmembers freed the driver, then removed the vehicle while maintaining the building’s structural integrity

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By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer

TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. — A driver had to be rescued from inside a Walmart in North Carolina after a pickup truck crashed through an exterior wall and got stuck, according to the Central Alexander Fire Department.

The crash happened at 9 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, at the Walmart Supercenter on N.C. 16 in Taylorsville, the department said in a news release. Taylorsville is about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte.

Investigators said the pickup “drove into the building” and came to a stop with its front doors pinned shut by walls.

https://www.facebook.com/CentralAlexanderFireDepartment/posts/pfbid0h5a3crALAG4HQxYSbH4SNFeZe8rfvabbAn1pJwyWtCA841BNyrc5wQrVuECouNswl

Photos show the truck’s front end suffered heavy damage when it rammed through a front wall and into the store’s kitchen area.

The driver “was freed from the vehicle in a short period of time and turned over to EMS,” the department said.

However, it took longer to get the vehicle out of the store.

Fire and Rescue personnel resorted to “cutting away the cement blocks and shoring the building to maintain structural integrity,” officials said.

The driver, who officials did not publicly identify, was hospitalized “with minor injuries,” WSOC reported. No injuries were reported among the store’s staff.

Investigators did not say what caused the crash.

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