Tractor-trailer crashes into creek, spills fuel

2/8/2018

FREMONT — A tractor-trailer hauling scrap metal careened across U.S. 20/State Rt. 19 northeast of Fremont and overturned into a creek after running down an embankment Thursday afternoon, the Ohio Highway Patrol reported.

Nobody was injured in the 2:15 p.m. crash, but between 125 and 150 gallons of diesel fuel and oil spilled into Bark Creek as a result, troopers at the patrol’s Fremont post said.

Don Dugger, 53, of Wellington, Ala., was driving the rig east on the Fremont Bypass near State Rt. 412 when it went off the left side of the roadway, crossed the median and the westbound lanes, and struck a guardrail and a traffic sign before starting down the embankment, according to the report. It struck a fence before overturning into the creek.

Mr. Dugger, who was cited for failure to control, wore a seat belt and was examined medically at the scene, troopers said. The truck was headed for Pennsylvania after loading in Fremont. Neither drugs nor alcohol was suspected to be a factor in the crash.