A man drove his truck onto the Rod & Reel Pier Feb. 11 but no injuries were reported and apparently the pier was not damaged.
The truck came to a stop after hitting a bench on the pier walkway, 875 N. Shore Drive, Anna Maria.
Beth Riley, a pier employee, said she saw the driver as he made his attempt to maneuver onto the wooden structure.
“We were closing early,” she said. “I was upstairs working and the host looked at us and said, ‘Somebody is driving down the pier!’”
“I’ve been there 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Riley continued.
A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report stated piergoers helped keep the man from driving away and assisted in getting him to shut off his vehicle while awaiting the arrival of law enforcement and emergency services.
The MCSO report described the man, age 70, as confused.
Riley said authorities reached out to the man’s family and learned he was in the hospital.
“It was just a man confused,” she said.
— Robert Anderson