By James Mayse
Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
OWENSBORO, Ky. — A semi-trailer truck driver received minor injuries Thursday morning, after overturning his semi on U.S. 60, trapping him inside.
The driver was rescued from the semi-trailer truck by members of a Daviess County Detention Center work crew who witnessed the accident.
That section of the highway was closed for several hours while responders cleared the road of debris from the accident.
Daviess County Sheriff’s Office reports say the wreck occurred at 9:25 a.m. in the eastbound lane of U.S. 60 near the Frederica Street intersection.
Reports say a two-vehicle accident had just occurred in the eastbound lane, where a state highway vehicle was struck from behind.
The detention center crew was working with the state to fill potholes on the highway.
Daviess County Jailer Art Maglinger said some of the jail crew members were on the side of the roadway when the semi-trailer truck, which was hauling aluminum ingots, came over a rise and apparently lost control.
Maglinger said the semi-trailer truck came close to striking the jail workers, then jackknifed and overturned onto the highway.
The workers went to the semi-trailer truck, but could not open the door. The semitrailer was also on fire, so the inmate workers and the crew’s supervisor, Deputy Jailer Chris Isbill, retrieved fire extinguishers from their trucks.
Some of the jail crew members put out the fire while others used a metal object to break one of the truck’s windows to retrieve the driver, Maglinger said.
“They actually got the fire out,” Maglinger said. “There was leaking fuel. That was the danger from the fire.”
The driver, Bryan Marcum, of Philpot, was injured. Maglinger said the inmate workers reported Marcum was up and talking, and appeared to have non-life threatening injuries.
The eastbound lane around the wreck was closed for about four and a half hours while the aluminum ingots were loaded onto a new semi-trailer truck. The road reopened around 2 p.m.
Maglinger said the inmates were brought back to the jail, where they met with a counselor and the jail chaplain, to help them cope with the stress of the incident.
Maglinger said he plans to ask the state Department of Corrections to grant awards for meritorious service to the jail crew, who are state inmates, for their response during the crash. Maglinger said he also plans to recognize Isbill for leading the crew’s response.
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