Thunderstorms moving through Grayson County early Monday morning resulted in lightning striking a dump truck on Quarry Road, causing the truck to flip onto its side.
Monday morning at approximately 6:20, Grayson County Det. Wally Ritter, the Leitchfield Fire Department and EMS responded to the incident in the 400 block of Quarry Road, in front of Future Designs.
Initially, a caller to Grayson County Dispatch said the driver was trapped inside the cab of the Sonora-based Hodges Inc. dump truck, but employees of Future Designs smashed a window and assisted the male driver out of the vehicle.
The accident occurred just after the dump truck on-loaded 27 tons of gravel at Scotty’s Contracting & Stone and was traveling south on Quarry Road en route to Beaver Dam Road (Hwy 62). A bolt of lightning then struck the truck, causing it to flip — violently, based on the extensive damage — onto its side.
The energy created by the crash ripped at least part of the floor board off the truck and left the driver’s feet dangling in the breeze, according to a witness. The driver, though, was unable to escape the truck via the floor board area due to the altered configuration of the truck following the accident.
It’s unclear if the lightning itself caused the vehicle to flip or if the driver jerked the steering wheel in an (understandable) reaction to the lightning strike.
The driver was transported by EMS to Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
Leitchfield FD personnel, in multiple locations, dammed diesel fuel that began leaking from the truck.
Leitchfield Police Department Sgt. Keith Harrell assisted at the scene.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
