JAY – Livermore truck driver Calvin Gilbert escaped serious injury Monday after the tractor-trailer he was driving went off a shoulder of Route 140 and flipped onto its side.
The truck, owned by A. Hood and Son Inc. of Turner, was loaded with mulch. It slid for more than 50 feet on its side, taking out a mailbox and the center of a utility pole, before coming to a stop, Jay police officer Richard Caton IV said Monday.
“He came around the corner, got onto the shoulder and, as he started to ease back onto the pavement, he felt the trailer tipping. And the next thing he knew, he was sliding on the road and took out the center of a utility pole,” Caton said.
The road shoulder had about a 5- to 6-inch drop-off from the pavement to the dirt, Caton said.
Gilbert was able to climb out of the cab through a broken windshield, Caton said.
The wires from the pole hung about 5 feet above the truck, he said.
Central Maine Power Co. workers went to the scene to shut off the power to a home and tie a rope from a tree branch to hold the top part of the utility pole – which was still attached to wires – and other wires away from the truck and off the ground so the truck could be righted. The bottom of the broken pole stuck out from the ground.
The truck had been traveling west on the road to go to Harrison, Caton said.
Jay firefighters helped direct traffic, which was rerouted for nearly two hours, once Greeley’s towing of Auburn arrived with two large wreckers to roll the rig onto its wheels.
About a dozen firefighters responded to the 7:45 a.m. accident. They helped company workers clean the dirt and mulch out of the back of the truck, and planned to clean up any leaked hydraulic fuel, said Jay Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Tim Toothaker.
Gilbert, who complained of pain to his leg, was treated by NorthStar Emergency Medical Services medics at the scene and driven home by the company owner’s wife, Caton said.
Neighbors and other people stood on the side of the road and watched as the truck was flipped upright.
“I heard a real loud noise and saw this when I got outside,” Scott Volterman, who lives at the residence where the truck came to rest, said Monday as he looked at the wreck. “I was afraid of what I was going to see. I ran over to see if he was all right, and he had his foot stuck but was able to free it.”
The fiberglass from the right side of the truck cab was gone, and the motor was visible once the truck was on its wheels.
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