A Freightliner truck and its 25-foot trailer rest upside down in a bar pit after crashing along the western shoulder of Highway 35 Tuesday morning.
An official at the scene said the rig, whose cab door bore the ID of Hard Cash Planting Co. of Indianola, was loaded with gravel from Henry Kendall’s nearby pit and traveling westbound on Cascilla Road near the intersection of Highway 35 when the accident occurred at about 11.
Initially, rescue workers feared that the driver might be trapped in the wreckage, but they soon learned that he had been picked up by a passing motorist and taken to the emergency room at Tallahatchie General Hospital.
Tallahatchie County Deputy Sheriff Benji McKinney, who spoke with the driver at TGH, said the man reported that the truck’s brakes failed while descending Cascilla hill. McKinney said the driver recounted how he, while making ready his escape with the cab door open, was able to steer the truck toward its eventual crash site and to jump clear of the rig before it flipped.
McKinney said the man reportedly was treated for only minor injuries.
(Photo by Clay McFerrin)
