Driver, load intact after garbage truck overturns

COOPER – The driver of a fully loaded garbage truck received only minor injuries Friday morning when his vehicle slid off Route 191 and turned over.

The truck’s 68,000-pound load of garbage did not spill onto the road.

The 1995 Mac truck is owned by Lilac Sunrise Disposal of Baileyville.

Around 8 a.m. James Fletcher, 68, of East Machias was traveling north on Route 191, on his way to dump the load at a landfill in New Brunswick. He crested a hill just past Cooper Mountain Hill and saw that the car ahead of him had slowed down because of a minor accident on the road, said Trooper Elmer Farren of the Maine State Police.

Fletcher swerved to avoid hitting the stopped vehicle, and his garbage truck went off the side of the road and rolled onto its top.

The trooper said the garbage remained inside, but a small amount of diesel fuel and engine oil leaked out. He said the Cooper Fire Department was called to deal with the cleanup.

Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Bishop, who was investigating the minor accident, helped Fletcher out of his vehicle. The driver, who was wearing a seat belt, received only minor injures and refused medical treatment.

The trooper said Route 191 was closed for about 21/2 hours as wreckers attempted to right the vehicle. He said it took two wreckers and another truck from Lilac Disposal to get the Mack truck upright.

The trooper said slippery roads were a factor in the accident. He said officers from the Maine State Police’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit aided in the investigation.