What happened
A McDonnell Douglas MD-88 was parked at its gate at LaGuardia Airport, undergoing passenger boarding. At the time, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer was positioned between gates 5 and 6 to perform a tire delivery.
Upon being notified that the vehicle needed to be relocated to accommodate an aircraft arriving at gate 5, the truck driver entered the cab and began moving the vehicle. The driver proceeded without a ground guide. During this maneuver, the truck cab struck the right wingtip of the MD-88.
The impact caused the aircraft to pivot around its chocked main landing gear, resulting in the nose of the plane shifting approximately 4.5 feet to the right and away from the jetway. At the moment the aircraft moved, a passenger was transitioning from the jetway into the plane; the sudden movement caused the passenger to fall 8 feet to the ground. The incident resulted in one injury.