August 01, 2008 12:29 pm
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A tanker truck struck a street sweeper on Thursday, flipping it on its side and pinning the driver for about two minutes.
A CareFlite helicopter transported the man, whose name has not been released, to a Fort Worth hospital. The man was in obvious pain and distress but remained conscious throughout the ordeal. Other details about the man’s condition are not available.
The wreck occurred about 2:30 p.m. in the 2700 block of West Farm-to-Market Road 4 in front of the Johnson County Precinct 4 office.
The man is not a Precinct 4 employee, said Precinct 4 Commissioner R.C. McFall.
The Texas Department of Transportation is completing road work on that section of FM 4, McFall said, and the man was an employee of TxDOT or a subcontracting firm working for them.
Several Precinct 4 workers and two men working across the street from the accident raced over to free the man.
“I know you’re not supposed to move people, but he was yelling he couldn’t breathe; we had to get him out,” said Blake Gibbs, witness to the wreck.
The tanker-truck driver declined to give his name but said he was driving 40 mph at the time and swerved in an attempt to avoid hitting the sweeper. The driver said he hit his horn but clipped the sweeper.
Gibbs said the truck was driving fast and did not swerve.
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Photos
Johnson County Precinct 4 Commissioner R.C. McFall surveys damage to a street sweeper hit by a tanker truck Thursday on West Farm-to-Market Road 4. Precinct 4 employees and workers across the street who witnessed the accident raced to free the street sweeper driver who was pinned to the street by the roof of the vehicle.