Tom GantertSterling Heights, MI – A garbage truck crashed into a commercial building and revealed an illegal marijuana growing operation Wednesday morning.
At around 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 8, a vehicle ran a red light, which forced the drive of a garbage truck to swerve to avoid hitting the vehicle.
The truck swerved over a median and avoided oncoming traffic but hit a building, according to WXYZ.
The crash was caught on video by the next-door business.
After the collision, the new hole in the building revealed an illegal marijuana grow operation.
Investigators said that there were about 260 marijuana plants inside, WDIV reported.
Recreational marijuana is legal in Michigan but cities often have restrictions on growing pot. Police said that marijuana operation went against state and local codes, according to WXYZ.
“Growing marijuana inside a commercial building is not legal in the city of Sterling Heights,” Sterling Heights Fire Marshal Sean Allen said, according to WJBK. “You need special permits to do that and Sterling Heights does not offer that option.”
The owner of the next-door business, Mike Palmieri, said he knew something suspicious had been going on at the marijuana operation because he could smell the pot.
“But if you were here in the evening time or morning time, it smelled like fresh skunk all morning long,” Palmieri said, according to WXYZ.
Palmieri said he feared that the illegal grow operation would attract criminal activity.
“If people want it and if they know it’s there, they are going to get it one way or another,” Palmieri told WXYZ. “Especially with the hard times, we are having nowadays.”
The Sterling Heights police are investigating the incident.
Holly Matkin
