AVON, Conn. -- Eyewitness News has learned that the trucking company involved in a crash at the base of Avon Mountain Friday is poorly rated by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The truck, traveling westbound on U.S. Route 44 at Route 10, crashed into the Nassau Furniture building at about 11 a.m., taking out a column that supports the roof of the building.

Trucks are rated by the DMV on a scale of A to J, A being the worst and J being the best. Apgar Brothers, of Somerset, N.J., the company that owns the truck that slammed into the store, is rated a C.

The DMV listed the most common problems found within the company as brake problems, driver working longer than recommended hours and traffic law violations.

A employee at the store told Eyewitness News that the truck appeared to have lost control of its brakes while traveling down the mountain and ran into the store.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Len Besthoff reported that between 2002 and 2007, the state of Connecticut inspected Apgar Brothers' vehicles 14 times. In five of those inspections, the DMV performed a driver-only inspection. Eight times, the DMV performed a walk-around of the vehicles, and only once was a full inspection required.

During that full inspection, DMV officials said six out-of-service violations were found.

The truck involved in Friday's crash was inspected by the DMV in March 2006 and no violations were found at that time.

Besthoff reported that in the past 90 days, there have been no inspections of the truck.

Witnesses were calling the truck's driver, Robert Rauch, a hero after Friday's crash because he swerved to avoid other cars on the roadway. He was the only person injured in the crash.

He was extricated from the truck's cab and flown by LIFE STAR to Hartford Hospital. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The company declined to comment on the crash.

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