Rampaging 18-wheeler does $400,000 in damage, then vanishes, Florida cops say

A mysterious 18-wheeler carried out a $400,000 spree of destruction in a Florida neighborhood, dragging cars, flattening fences and knocking down power poles, according to police.

Then, like a ghost, it vanished down the road.

It happened just after 8 a.m. Sunday, May 18, in Cape Coral, and police are still searching for the truck and its driver.

“Witnesses reported hearing a loud collision, followed by a power outage in the area,” Cape Coral police wrote in a May 19 news release.

“Preliminary investigation indicates that a large commercial semi-truck struck a utility line and continued traveling westbound on Tropicana Parkway, dragging the lines behind it. The damage extended across multiple homes and vehicles. The driver of the semi-truck fled.”

Six utility poles were flattened, “several parked vehicles were dragged across yards, and numerous fences were damaged,” police said.

Photos shared on Facebook indicate the truck was actually driving through yards when it hit the fences and poles.

The resulting power outage extended for multiple blocks, police said.

No injuries were reported by police, but the “extent of the destruction” prompted the department to have a traffic homicide investigator accompany the property crimes detectives, police said.

Traffic camera images indicate the cab of the truck was yellow, and it was hauling a white refrigerated trailer, officials said. It was last seen headed north, on Burnt Store Road, police said.

“A portion of the trailer’s roof was torn off and recovered on Tropicana Parkway, just west of the initial crash site,” police said.

Cape Coral is in southwest Florida, about a 130-mile drive south from Tampa.

This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Rampaging 18-wheeler does $400,000 in damage, then vanishes, Florida cops say."