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ATLANTA – A fuel tanker crashed and sprung a small leak early Tuesday after the driver was hit by a firecracker as he drove past a group of youths, authorities said.
The driver was seriously injured, and two or three nearby apartment buildings were evacuated as a precaution, they said.
The truck struck a curb and a fire hydrant before tumbling down an embankment into a parking lot.
A small amount of fuel leaked from a valve but firefighters quickly contained it, police Sgt. J.L. Hensal said. “The truck stayed pretty much intact,” he said.
Police Sgt. Kevin Iosty said no arrests had been made.
The truck driver, Rafael Diaz, had just passed a group of eight to 11 juveniles on the side of the road when one of them fired a bottle rocket into the truck cab, hitting him in the head, Iosty said.
Diaz, 29, of Woodstock, was being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital (search) for serious facial and head injuries, Iosty said.
Others in the group may have also thrown concrete chunks and bricks at the truck, he said.