Local

Couple recovering after truck barrels through backyard

KANNAPOLIS — A husband and wife, Nick and Brittany Schmidt, are out of surgery after a truck came barreling into their yard. The 97-year-old driver was also injured in the bizarre crash.
              
"It could have been worse," brother Kendal Schmidt said.
 
Neighbors told Channel 9 that 97-year-old Ralph Chapman apparently lost control of his truck while backing out of his driveway and sped across Rodgers Lake Road in Kannapolis in reverse.
 
"I was in the backyard," Kendal said. "I heard my brother screaming 'run, run.'"
 
Kendal says the truck hit the home before pinning Nick to his Toyota Tacoma.
 
"He hit the side of the house and bounced off...tore down our back step,  and that's when his wife Brittany got thrown into the bed of the truck," Kendal said. "A rod went through her leg."
 
Kendal was just feet away and immediately dialed 911. Then he turned to his brother who was still stuck and bleeding.
 
"I squeezed between the trucks...and just held him until they got there," Kendal said. "He started getting cold and pale and everything. I think it was just the shock."