The awning of a downtown business, on the southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway Avenue, was reportedly damaged Thursday morning after a semi backed into the structure.

According to police, at about 11:20 a.m. a Penske truck attempted to turn right from Main Street to South Broadway Avenue, when the driver realized he couldn’t make the corner and backed up to get a better starting angle. At that point, he crashed into the awning of the Wedge Jones Building — which is currently occupied by Midwest Antiques — tearing down pieces of it.

Police stated the driver did not realize that he had hit the awning and headed south on Broadway Avenue. There were reportedly at least two witnesses to the incident, one of whom followed the truck until police could catch up to it.

Police stopped the truck on Highway 65 near the entrance ramp to Interstate 35.

According to Albert Lea Police Lt. J.D. Carlson, the action was believed to be accidental so the man was not cited for the crash.

However, he was cited for numerous driver and equipment violations by an inspector with the Minnesota State Patrol.

The building is owned by Mark Jones.

This is the second incident in recent months involving a semi crashing into a structure in the downtown.

At the beginning of February a semi was making a turn at the intersection of South Broadway Avenue and East Clark Street when it sheared off a part of a street light. The driver of the semi was later found on East Main Street.

The light is still out of commission at this intersection.