An Arkansas woman and an infant were hospitalized after they were pinned underneath a street sweeper that barreled down a hill and into their home Tuesday morning, officials said.
The Rogers Fire Department was called shortly after 6:50 a.m. to a house on Bonnabel Lane in eastern Benton County, Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said.
When they arrived, officials determined the vehicle had rolled down a hill and crashed at a “very high rate of speed” into a living space of a one-story home, Jenkins said.
A woman and an infant were pinned under the sweeper while another child who had managed to evade the machine was nearby, Jenkins said. Because the sweeper was so heavy, the fire department had to call in specialists with the local Urban Search and Rescue team.
Emergency responders moved the machine off the woman and baby after about 20 minutes, Jenkins said. The woman was conscious and talking with officials throughout the rescue, he said.
Both the woman and infant were transported to area hospitals, one by helicopter and one by ambulance, Jenkins said. The operator of the street sweeper was also injured and hospitalized, he said.
Jenkins said he did not know if the man was inside the machine when it crashed or what may have caused the wreck.
There was no word on the condition of the woman or baby from the hospital, but Jenkins said it appeared they were in "serious" condition.
An Arkansas State Police trooper was called to the scene at 8:22 a.m., and the agency is investigating the crash, spokeswoman Liz Chapman said.
The sweeper belongs to Benton County, she said.