Truck crashes into Mankato home after driver suffers seizure

Feb. 02--MANKATO -- A Mankato couple was sitting on their porch just before dinner a week ago on Friday night, Jan. 26, when a black pickup truck came hurtling toward their home and crashed into the side of the house.

The truck, having come from down Pine Street, rebounded from the side of Melisa and Jared Morisset's corner lot home on Second Avenue and spun in the home's backyard before coming to a halt in their neighbor's yard.

"Everyone's safe, and at least he hit our house instead of driving down a highway and taking out multiple families or people in cars," said Melisa Morisset. "So you know it's a blessing in disguise. It could have gone a bunch of ways. My kids could be dead right now."

Glass from the kitchen windows was strewn across their home, the foundation of the house was damaged, and sheetrock was cracked in almost every room of the house from the impact of the truck.

Their playhouse and fence in the backyard, and their washing machine, dryer and refrigerator inside were tossed around.

Thankfully, Melisa Morisset said, both of their children who were home at the time, 4-year-old Jackson and 2-year-old Hailey, were in the dining room, away from the worst of the debris.

Jared Morisset had to clear a way through the kitchen to get to the couple's two children sitting in the dining room.

The driver, Nicholas Scott Hinkle, 25, had apparently had a seizure while driving and lost control of his vehicle, according to a Mankato Police report. The Morissets called the 911 and Hinkle was taken to the hospital.

Police took their statements about what happened for a report, and a few days later both Hinkle's and the Morisset's insurance companies came out to look at the damage.

In the meantime, they are staying at the Best Western, because a portion of their house is open to the elements. Water had to be shut off because of a broken pipe, and there is still glass everywhere.

"When we moved into this house in June, it was condemned when we got here," Melisa Morisset said. "We just got done doing all this stuff to repair it. The new roof is ruined. We just put it on right before winter came."

Because the children's snow boots were covered in shards of glass, people from Jackson's school, Franklin Elementary, pooled together to get he and Hailey replacement shoes.

"We don't want pity on us. We want people to know that life's short, I guess," said Melisa Morisset.

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