A 63-year-old Juneau man died shortly after crashing his Super Duty Ford truck into a Mendenhall Valley bedroom Saturday morning, police said.
An off-duty officer performed CPR on Craig Stephen Temanson around 9:30 a.m. after finding him inside the cab of a truck that was partially lodged in a home in the 3700 block of Julep Street, according to a Juneau Police Department press release. Capital City Fire/Rescue transported Temanson to Bartlett Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was the only occupant in the vehicle.
Scott Philip, 59, is the owner of the home that, since the accident, has been raised 18 inches off its foundation. He said he did not know Temanson. Philip and his son, William Philip, 32, were the only two people in the house during the accident and neither of them sustained injuries.
Philip said it sounded like a “bomb went off” when the truck entered his bedroom, which he had not long before walked out of to join his son who was returning from working the night shift.
“We’ve got so many things to be thankful for,” Philip said, as his grandchild who was supposed to be playing in the front yard during the incident sat safely off to the side with his mother, Letha Bethel.
Philip and his son William said they just as easily could have been in their respective bedrooms at the time of the crash, which for William would have put him in the room beside the collapsed wall while his father would have been eye-to-eye with the intruding truck.
Mirrors and frames inside the home that were once hanging on walls have since made their way to the ground after sheet rock gave way to the truck’s force. The adjoining garage shifted as well, with part of the roof coming off.
The cause of the accident remains unknown, but Bethel said police told her they saw no signs of brake marks in the grass leading up to her childhood home, although the speed it was traveling is also unknown. She said she is just happy she didn’t leave her son in the front yard to play earlier in the day as she might have on any other day.
“(William) should of been in bed … my son should have been in the front yard in the swimming pool that we just took out yesterday,” Bethel said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m just counting our blessings.”
Police estimate the residence sustained an estimated $80,000 in damages. JPD has requested an autopsy of Temanson’s body, and alcohol is not suspected to be a factor in this case.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
