Alfredo Morfin had proof a large city waste truck used his driveway. The City of San Antonio helped him start a damage claim after KENS 5 got involved.
SAN ANTONIO — In June of 2023, Alfredo Morfin came home to find a section of his driveway cracked and caved in. He didn’t know how it could have happened so he started asking his neighbors. Luckily, his neighbor had a security camera at the time.
“He looked at the camera and he said, ‘oh it’s a garbage truck!” Morfin said.
The neighbor’s video showed a large truck, which turned out to be a City of San Antonio solid waste truck, using Morfin’s driveway and his neighbor’s yard to make a 3-point turn.
KENS 5 also contacted that neighbor directly to confirm the source of the video.
Morfin said the truck likely couldn’t go down the street as normal because construction was blocking the middle of the street at the time. He still wishes the truck would have backed up.
“Instead of backing all the way out he turned into my driveway!” Morfin said.
He said he tried to call the city at the time and he made a police report about the issue, which he had a copy of, but Morfin said the city didn’t come out to look at the driveway and the claim just died.
He had to move to another home for family-related reasons but he said his niece also tried to make a claim without success. Finally, this year, he called KENS 5.
“I said I’m calling channel 5!” he said.
KENS 5 reached out to the City of San Antonio to find out if they could help with Morfin’s claim. KENS 5 also asked if it was normal for large solid waste trucks to use residential driveways.
San Antonio’s Solid Waste Management department quickly looked into the issue. While the city couldn’t find a record of a previous claim, they did help Mr. Morfin start his claim now.
Marcus Lee, a Marketing Manager for the department, told KENS 5, “In this case, a City review found that Mr. Morfin did not file a claim with Risk Management. The City has contacted him to assist with creating his claim.”
Morfin now has a claim number and he is waiting for an insurance adjuster to come out to the property.
The city also answered our question about trucks turning around in residential driveways.
Lee told us via email, “Regarding solid waste operations, City collection crews are expected to operate safely and avoid private property whenever possible. Use of residential driveways is not standard practice and would only occur in limited situations where necessary to safely maneuver, such as a blocked street.”
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