Dump truck driver transported by helicopter following one-vehicle rollover
A dump truck driver was transported to the hospital by air ambulance after being injured in a one-vehicle rollover on FM 207 near County Road 326 just before noon Monday, Feb. 17.
A load of rock is strewn on FM 207 and in the ditch after the dump truck rolled over around noon Monday. (Photo courtesy of Stephens County Sheriff Will Holt)
According to Department of Public Safety Trooper Russell Reid, the driver was northbound on FM 207 hauling a load of rock, when he veered off the highway and into the ditch, hit a culvert and flipped over one time. The rock was dumped into the ditch and parts of the road in the rollover.
“We had Unit 1, which is a dump truck, going north. It ran off of the road for some reason; I don’t know why,” Reid said at the scene of the accident. “We couldn’t speak to the driver because they were Care Flighting him. For some reason, he drifted off the road and hit this culvert, landed here (and) rolled it one time in the ditch.”
Reid said it was unclear if the driver was ejected from the vehicle when it rolled over.
“Well, he thinks he might have been, but there’s no evidence to me that he was ejected,” Reid said. “Now, there is evidence that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, but I don’t know if he was ejected or not. So I can’t answer that whether yes or no. The driver said he might have been, but he didn’t know for sure, so I don’t know.”
Reid said he didn’t know the extent of the driver’s injuries because he was already being transported to the helicopter when Reid arrived at the scene.
The Breckenridge Fire Department and Stephens County Sheriff’s Office blocked off U.S. Highway 180 at the intersection of FM 207 so the helicopter could land. Breckenridge Fire Chief Calvin Chaney said the farm road was too narrow for the helicopter to land on, so the driver was taken by Sacred Cross EMS ambulance from the scene of the wreck to the helicopter.
The wreck damaged portions of FM 207, and the Texas Department of Transportation was called out to repair the roadway.
The accident is under investigation by the DPS, and the driver’s name has not been released at this time.
Texas Department of Transportation employees work to repair the roadway after it was damaged by a dump truck in a one-vehicle rollover wreck at about noon Monday. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/ Breckenridge Texan)
Story by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan
Cutline, top photo: Workers prepare to load a dump truck onto the back of a truck after it was involved in a rollover accident around noon on Monday. The driver was transported to the hospital by helicopter for treatment of injuries he sustained in the wreck. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
