Car lands on roof of Fresno apartment


Recommended Posts

FRESNO, Calif. -- A car ended up perched on the roof of a Fresno apartment after it was launched through the air when the driver lost control on a curve and hit landscaping rocks, according to police.

Police and firefighters arrived at the apartment around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday to find neighbors taking pictures with their cell phones.

"I don't know how it landed so perfectly on the roof, but it was a miracle I guess," Francisco Perez, an onlooker, told KFSN-TV.

The driver, Benjamin Tucker, 25, had stolen the car from a nearby home and suffered a broken leg when he jumped from the roof after the crash, according to police.

He was arrested about a quarter mile away and booked on suspicion of hit-and-run, vehicle theft and obstructing an officer.

The apartment's occupants were not hurt.

Ralph White, who lives in the apartment with his family, said he awoke to falling debris and smoke and ran to a neighbor's house to call police.

"Everybody is still in shock. It's crazy," White said.

A towing company had to use a crane to get the car down in an operation that took several hours.

000564ac-314.jpg

source

video

Link to comment
Share on other sites

how does a car launch that high after just hitting some rocks? you'd think it'd either stop at the "landscaping rocks" or drive through the 1st floor :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems like a miracle that the roof didn't cave in. :laugh:

it kinda did, it collapsed where the wheels landed, thats how the car got stuck, I'd assume there is a good amount of structural damage too, as most roofs can only support 40psf of dead load, let alone the amount of load a car landing on it would create

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it kinda did, it collapsed where the wheels landed, thats how the car got stuck, I'd assume there is a good amount of structural damage too, as most roofs can only support 40psf of dead load, let alone the amount of load a car landing on it would create

Got a source for that? If that was the case, I wouldn't be able to stand on my roof in order to clean it. I weigh well over three times that (about 150 lbs) and if I have my feet together then that entire 150 lb weight is in much less than 1 sq ft. By your reasoning, I should be stepping through my roof with every step.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got a source for that? If that was the case, I wouldn't be able to stand on my roof in order to clean it. I weigh well over three times that (about 150 lbs) and if I have my feet together then that entire 150 lb weight is in much less than 1 sq ft. By your reasoning, I should be stepping through my roof with every step.

doesn't take much research to find it

http://www.informationdestination.cengage.com/ReferenceContent/General%20Construction/Dead%20Loads.pdf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ I was thinking, that maybe buildings are built a little tuffer in California, due to the frequent earthquakes.

standard dead load is 30 to 40 psf, live load isn't usually considered too high on a roof since you don't live on it only environmental forces... but live load can be much higher inside

and remember these are the minimums, they can be much stronger then that, but it has to be able to support this amount of dead load at a minimum, it all comes down to is it trusses or rafters, where the beams are, that type of sheething is used, etc, but still even the strongest roofs wont support a car without damage, let alone the force of a car landing on it from above

also dead load max doesn't mean falling through the floor, it just means before deflection starts

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. That is just insane. I would love to see these "landscaping rocks" though... lol You'd think if they were that big they would have stopped the car themselves...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. That is just insane. I would love to see these "landscaping rocks" though... lol You'd think if they were that big they would have stopped the car themselves...

convienatly shaped as a ramp probably :rofl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did a few Google searches, but couldn't find it. Thanks. I have a feeling though that most houses would be built far higher than the minimums.

I would hope they would, but if you know contractors, they do like to cut corners to save a few bucks.... I know my house one section they did with 2x6's instead of 2x12's just to save a couple hundred dollars... but in the end will cost us tens of thousands to fix if we want to finish that section eventually (unfinished 2nd story room)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.