[1][4][5] Sesky, an employee of Fred Carpentier—operator of a small truck line in Scranton—was returning from the boat piers at Newark, New Jersey, where he had picked up his load.
307 contains a two-mile descent extending from Lake Scranton to the bottom of Moosic Street that includes a drop in elevation of more than 500 ft (150 m) in less than 1.5 mi (2.4 km).
[3] As a result, the truck cruised into Scranton at approximately 90 mph (140 km/h), sideswiping a number of cars before it crashed into a house[1] at the southwest corner of Moosic St and S. Irving Ave (41°24′00″N 75°39′18″W / 41.4000°N 75.6550°W / 41.4000; -75.6550),[3] close to the bottom of the hill.
Witnesses reported that Sesky did everything possible to avoid pedestrians and other motorists,[3] including climbing out onto the truck's running board to try to warn people,[1] and some have suggested that he may have deliberately flipped the truck over to avoid striking either bystanders or an automotive service station[7] on Moosic Street that could have exploded in flames, causing a greater loss of life.
While approaching Scranton, he passes a sign he "should have seen" reading: "Shift to low gear or fifty-dollar fine, my friend," because he is too busy thinking about seeing his wife after his trip.
The driver then prays twice to God to make the event all a dream before he "sideswiped nineteen neat-parked cars / Clipped off thirteen telephone poles / Hit two houses, bruised eight trees / And Blue-Crossed seven people."
[1] The song's epilogue tells the story how Chapin first heard of the event aboard a Greyhound bus coming out of Scranton some months later.
A third alternate ending surfaced later, in which Chapin would often introduce with a monologue about Donny and Marie Osmond, and the technical definition of the word "sucks".
The ending is cut short by Big John singing the first verse of "Taxi" in the form of an upbeat disco style that concludes with Chapin telling him "it sucks."