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Driver blacks out, truck rolls into prairie
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · January 29, 2015
Truck driver Robert E. Burger of Chaparral, N.M., told a Cedar County Sheriff deputy he “felt different” while driving westbound on Interstate 80 near West Branch and remembers grabbing a bite of a banana and taking a drink of water, but that was the last thing he remembered before realizing his semi-tractor trailer was sitting in the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site prairie and people were coming to his aid.
The 2010 International out of El Paso, Texas, according to Deputy Jeff Smith’s report, about 9:15 a.m. Jan. 17 drifted to the north side of the road under the Parkside bridge, went into the north ditch, traveled to the south side of the entrance ramp, went airborne over the pavement, landed on the north side of the exit, barreled through the fencing and slowed to a stop about 100 yards from the interstate.
The sheriff’s deputy report states that the truck incurred about $6,000 in damage, the field grass incurred about $1,000 in damage, and five sections of Iowa Department of Transportation fencing incurred about $400 in damage.
Hoover Park Superintendent Pete Swisher said Big 10 Towing pulled the truck out through the prairie to the Miles farm property, which is owned by the park, exiting by the driveway across from BP-Amoco.
“The ground was still pretty solid” from the cold Swisher said.
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