BRIEFLY IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Truck crash destroys garage on Park Avenue

A large dump truck carrying a load of dirt rolled and crashed into a house on Park Avenue Tuesday morning about 10:30 a.m.

Laguna Beach Fire Capt. Tom Christopher said the driver of the truck escaped with only minor injuries, but the truck and the garage it hit were destroyed. The truck’s dirt payload was dumped on the street in the crash.

Some of the truck’s 70 gallons of diesel fuel spilled on the street as well. Laguna Beach’s senior environmental specialist Will HoIoman said the spill was contained so as not to reach storm drains and the ocean.

Dee Whitaker, one of the residents of the house above the garages that were destroyed, said she heard the truck coming down the hill and the collision that followed.

“It was a terrible jolt,” Whitaker said.

The house escaped major damage — aside from the garage. Whitaker said she is glad no one was seriously hurt.

“When I saw it I thought ‘oh Lord, he can’t be alive,’” Whitaker said of the driver.

She said emergency crews helped the driver out of the back window of the destroyed truck.

The crash snarled traffic on Park Avenue until city work crews cleared the road up around 5 p.m.

New officer joins police department

Laguna Beach will soon have a new police officer, according to City Manager Ken Frank.

Next week, Brian Clasby will become a Laguna Beach Police Officer. Clasby has two years experience as a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff and previously worked as a police aide in Seal Beach and as a reserve firefighter in Orange County, Frank said.

The department has been trying to fill some half-dozen open positions.