| CJFusco |
03-04-2009 02:31 PM |
This actually happened in CT this week:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1236209487.jpg
MANCHESTER, Conn. -- Emergency crews in a ladder truck made a dramatic rescue Wednesday morning after a dump truck got stuck standing on its end with the driver inside.The incident occurred on Interstate 84 in Manchester.The dump truck was left standing on its rear end with the driver suspended in the air inside the truck's cab, officials said. The driver was pulled to safety by rescue crews in a ladder truck at about 10:30 a.m.The truck remained vertical for about an hour after the driver's rescue, and was leaning against a road sign. Officials said they had to assess the stability of the truck before moving it. The truck was grounded at about 11:30 a.m.The driver was uninjured in the incident, but officials described him as "shaken up.""Took a bit of time to get a tow truck here to stabilize the vehicle," said Lt. Michael Levasseur of the Vernon Fire Department. "The victim was inside all that time and we were finally able to get the bucket to him and get him out."The driver was taken to an area hospital for evaluation. Levasseur said he was in the bucket of the ladder truck and was the first to speak with the driver."It was more of an effort to keep him calm," Levasseur said. "He was really quite composed considering what was going on."Skip Edwards, of Killingworth, told Eyewitness News that he was sitting in another truck behind the dump truck as it pulled out onto the highway."He went down the road and the body was still up," Edwards said. "I don't know if it was going down or not, but it caught the sign and whoosh -- straight up."Witnesses said it appeared that the truck's driver wasn't aware that the dump body was still raised as he left a construction site just off the interstate. Other drivers said the truck accelerated into at least third gear before slamming into the sign."It was a rough ride -- I'll tell you that," Edwards said. "Normally when they hit something like that it will just rip the piston out of the body, but not that one."The incident led to nearly all westbound lanes of Interstate 84 being closed near exit 64. Traffic was being allowed by the scene in the HOV lane immediately after the truck upended. Traffic was getting by in two lanes before noon. |
