Truck crashes into apartment complex off Lead, displacing some residents

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A truck crashed into an apartment Friday morning in southeast Albuquerque, near Lead and Carlisle.

“I’m overwhelmed,” said Mellia Walker, who lives in the apartment. “I’m in shock. I’m just trying to kind of wrap my head around all of this, you know, you work hard, you have nice things, and then you start all over again.

Walker says where the truck crashed is where her sixteen-year-old son would have been on any other day while being homeschooled.

“Normally my son is at home during the day, but I needed his help this morning,” Walker said. “So by the grace of God, I got him up.”

Walker said a car ran a stop sign nearby and the truck was driving to avoid it when it crashed into her complex.

“As of now, we’ve lost everything, everything,” she said.

Crews were boarding up the walls, but the damage is done. Notes were left on some neighbors’ doors at the complex, saying they wouldn’t have power and water for the near future.

Walker said they were told the building is structurally unsafe, so she and others must find another place to stay.

The speeding problem isn’t anything new for the neighborhood.

“The neighbors and I were talking about earlier,” Walker said. “You see the speed problems that you know we’re having, up and down the one way, they put the cameras in trying to get people to slow down. But, you know, I’ve seen numerous times over the years, you know, cars have spun into or crashed into other houses and properties. “

She never thought her home would be the next one hit.

“Overwhelmed, overwhelmed. It’s just, you know, it’s bittersweet. You know, knowing that we weren’t there. We’re safe. But you know when everything you own is lost. It’s difficult.”

A PNM spokesperson said about 300 people were affected by the broken transformer.