LOCAL

Semi carrying cattle crashes, closing I-69 ramp

Seth Slabaugh
The Star Press
Cattle are contained in a makeshift corral along I-69 after they were rescued from a semi-tractor trailer that crashed Tuesday morning.

MUNCIE, Ind. — The northbound exit ramp on Interstate 69 at Ind. 332 was closed Tuesday while emergency responders and volunteers removed 38 dead, dying and still-living cattle from an overturned semi tractor-trailer.

The slow, gruesome work required a fork lift, backhoe, heavy-duty tow chains, temporary gates, saws, a dump truck and firearms.

The animals were trapped in the trailer, some injured so badly they had to be put down with gunshots. By 10:30 a.m., about six hours after the truck wrecked, 10 or so had been removed, both dead and alive. One laid on the ground watching the turmoil, unable to stand.

Several refused to be prodded up the makeshift chute from the truck to smaller trailers pulled by pickup trucks. They banged into the gates, turned around and raced back to the overturned trailer, where workers shouted, "Watch out, watch out."

"This is going to take all day," one emergency responder said.

"They can get out," another worker warned.

A couple did escape and had to be shot, said Harry Holding of Northwest Wrecker.

Authorities called for a dump truck to remove about 10 dead cows.

"It's not a pretty sight," Holding said.

A 60-ton rotator wrecker equipped with a boom would be able to get the tractor-trailer back on its wheels in about 15 minutes, Holding said.

But the animals had to be rescued first. Otherwise, they would have been tossed around even more.

The truck left the exit ramp around 4:20 a.m. and overturned. The driver, Chester Smith, from Stanton, Ky. and reportedly 71 years old, blamed a car for forcing him off the ramp, according to police.

State and county police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, farmers, emergency management and wreckers remained on the ramp all morning. Northbound traffic on I-69 was moving, but slowly.

Holding estimated the wreck would be cleaned up by early afternoon.

A semi-tractor trailer hauling cattle overturned Tuesday morning, closing the northbound exit ramp on I-69 at Ind. 332.

Local farmers and other volunteers, including R. W. Howe Truck & Equipment Sales, provided heavy equipment and trailers for the cleanup operation, said Delaware County police Sgt. Bill Polk. 

Delaware County police Capt. John Holding said the truck driver and his grandson/ passenger were uninjured. The grandson told The Star Press he was in the sleeper when the crash occurred. The cattle were being transported from Springfield, Ky., to Plainview, Mich.

Contact Seth Slabaugh aat (765) 213-5834.