Minor Injuries Result from Semi and Pickup Truck Crash in T-Town

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Published on June 5 2015 11:26 am
Last Updated on June 6 2015 10:03 am
Written by Greg Sapp

(THE SCENE EMERGENCY CREWS ENCOUNTERED AFTER THE COLLISION, WITH THE GRAIN TRAILER BLOCKING BOTH LANES OF MAIN STREET)

Only minor injuries resulted from a collision involving a grain truck and a pickup truck in Teutopolis Friday morning.

Authorities on scene reported that the pickup truck driver, 61-year-old Richard Murphy of Effingham, had some sort of sneezing or coughing episode. The eastbound pickup ended up traveling off the north side of the roadway into the lawn of Stevens Industries' corporate offices. The driver of the westbound grain truck, a cab hauling a semi trailer loaded with product from Siemer Milling, 56-year-old Gary Caudill of Stewardson, swerved to the eastbound to avoid the pickup truck, but the pickup truck came back onto the highway and the semi clipped the right front end of the pickup truck. Another consideration was that workers installing fiber optic cable at the accident scene at Main Street and Race Street were in the pickup truck's path. The collision actually stopped the pickup truck and kept it from traveling into that work area.

Murphy suffered minor injuries, as did a child passenger, but neither were taken from the scene for treatment. Murphy was cited for improper lane usage.

The impact not only knocked off the front right wheel of the pickup truck, it also knocked the rear axles off the semi trailer. Crews from Tri-Power Towing had to use a wrecker on either side of the trailer to hoist it into the air, allowing a new set of wheels to be placed beneath the trailer to allow it to be moved from the scene.

Main Street, or Route 40 through Teutopolis, was closed for close to two hours.

(THE REAR WHEELS OF THE GRAIN TRAILER)

In the meantime, another crash occurred on Illinois 33 at the Teutopolis/Elliotstown Road southeast of Teutopolis at about the same time as the crash on Main Street. No major injuries were reported from that crash, either.