A Turtle Island garbage truck had crashed into his house.
"I was popping home, and I heard this big crack just behind us," said Tom Jordan, who lives on MacDonald Street directly behind the Willards' Vanevery Street home in the Royal York Road-Lake Shore Boulevard West area.
Jordan ran around the block to investigate.
"I yelled to Wayne, 'hey, are you OK?' A garbage truck drove right into the house and into the backyard. It made a huge mess."
Around 2 p.m., the southbound garbage truck left Dwight Avenue, mounted the sidewalk and smashed into the Willards' home. The crash gouged a two-foot by one-foot hole in the corner of the house, and blasted brick and concrete blocks onto a computer desk in the basement and throughout the backyard.
The truck ripped a chain link fence from its post and scattered tree limbs across the sidewalk.
Jordan said the truck's driver suffered an apparent panic attack, and had tried unsuccessfully to back the truck out of the house and yard. A tow truck later removed it.
Minutes later, a startled Willard called his wife at work.
"When Wayne told me, I couldn't believe what he was saying. 'A garbage truck hit the house?' I'm stunned. It's one of those things you think only happens to someone else."
A damage estimate is pending. Repair work is expected to take a month, Willard said.
Late afternoon, neighbours wandered by and passing cars stopped to investigate the commotion. A restoration crew arrived to cart away the bricks and board up the gaping hole in the house. A Turtle Island health and safety manager surveyed the damage.
As did Mike Perikleous, coordinator of contracted services with the City of Toronto.
The garbage truck will be tested for any mechanical failures, he said.
"The most important thing is that there were no kids on the sidewalk when the truck crossed over," Perikleous said. "Damage can be fixed. But a life can't be replaced."