Big rigs collide in Brundidge
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Shortly before 5 a.m. Monday an 18-wheeler collided with the rear of log truck on U.S. Highway 231 in Brundidge spilling logs onto the roadside and into the parking lot of the Fort Wendell K. Taylor National Guard Armory.
Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport said both vehicles were traveling north and the driver of the 18-wheeler didn’t see the log truck until it was too late to stop.
“The log truck was knocked into the ditch and the other truck remained partly on the road,” Davenport said.
The drivers of both vehicles were transported by ambulance to Troy Regional Medical Center and were released. Davenport said their injuries were not thought to be life threatening. The chief did not have the names of the drivers at that time.
“Speeding has not been determined as a factor in the accident,” Davenport said. “However the accident is still under investigation.”
After Robert Gissendaner, owner/operator of the log truck, was released from the hospital, he returned to the accident site.
He said he saw the lights of the other truck and thought, at first, that it was in the other lane.
“But the truck came right into the rear of my truck,” he said. “I tried to keep the truck upright and I fought with it but it finally flipped.”
Gissendaner said his truck landed on its side and he was hanging upside down.
“I had the seatbelt on and I was hanging there and it took me a few minutes to get out,” he said.
“When I did get out, I just went over and sat on a log. That was all I knew to do.”
Gissendaner said he had stopped at the Chevron station in Brundidge and refueled and was just getting back on the road when the accident occurred.