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Show y ' r , ' ; - , . - tr ' -T V-tf S ... ,- ; r ; - . f y , ' : . .... - i -' ' '.V, " - ''.. i v- if-- ; x Vr '": - x " J -V X X .. I I - t-i" '1 ; ''VX.V -..X II f J. iit " m fl PL, s- . , T f X,; d ' " (. V - XvV ' .x -- srx x . j ' . , . , . i Photos By: Gary R Blodgett Tom Busselberg Shaun Startle Just Stick OTfe it By GARY R. BLODGETT VAL VERDA - What goes on in the mind of a 21-year-old truck driver when the rig he is driving, loaded with 16 tons of crushed rock, goes out of control down a steep hill? TURN INTO a vacant lot, you say? Roll it, if you have to. Do anything to avoid an accident. All of these things are easier said than done. Just ask 21-year-old Jerry Miner, of Salt Lake City. He knows. JERRY WAS the driver of that truck that roared down 3100 South in Val Verda last Friday morning, slammed into two parked vehicles and went airborne nearly 40 feet before crashing into a home nose first with the truck cab buried under tons of brick in the kitchen of the unoccupied unoc-cupied home. Yes, Jerry was fortunate that he or . someone else was not killed. IT WAS A busy time of morning - the 9 a.m. rush hour. Usually Orchard Drive is bumper to bumper with traffic. But when Jerry and his load of rock came roaring through the intersection at more than 60 miles an hour, there was no traffic. A school bus had just left the scene. Several drivers witnessed the crash of Jerry's 10-wheeler seconds later. BUT NO ONE else was involved in the mishap, and fortunately Jerry was only slightly injured. He suffered cuts, bruises and shock but was released from Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful Sunday morning. Before his release, Jerry told this writer his intimate feelings the 30 or 40 seconds between the time his truck's brakes failed "about half way down 3100 South" until he regained consciousness and heard sirens wailing. "1 WAS LOADED with rock and gravel headed down 3100 South when I realized the steepness of the grade and began to gear down," he said. But within seconds I knew my brakes had failed and I switched on the emergency. "But that failed, too, and within seconds I had pickedup momentum and was soon out of control. I thought 1 could maintain control at first, but when I reached 40 or 45 miles an hour I knew I had lost it." JERRY WAS then quick to explain that at that speed (40 to 45 mph) it was too late to intentionally make a sharp turn or to stop abruptly. "The load would shift and you'd roll for sure," he said. And to roll a loaded truck is not like rolling a car, you've got 16 tons of gravel to worry about coming down on top of you." THAT MAKES it a difficult decision. Coming out of it alive is not even a 50-50 chance. So Jerry "stuck with it," doing 1 everything in his power to slow that runaway truck while making sure he : didn't involve another vehicle. '1 WAS coming down fast on one car and swerved to pass it," he said. 'Then another car approached from Orchard Drive onto 3100 South and I just barely missed him. "As I approached Orchard Drive I could : see the intersection was temporarily clear, so 1 shot through. 1 then intentionally inten-tionally picked the hedges and bushes on the left side of 3100 South to try and slow me down." JERRY SAID he didn't see the two ' parked vehicles until it was too late,--"because 1 was picking a patch to try and get that 10-wheel monster stopped." The truck slammed into two vehicles parked on a driveway in front of a garage, at a speed estimated by witnesses and Jerry, himself, at more than 60 miles an hour. The truck then went airborne from the higher elevation and crashed into the James Wilkes' home, 3107 Crestview Circle. "I BLACKED out, I guess, because I don't remember anything after hitting those cars," said Jerry. 'The next thing I remember was hearing sirens in the distance. dis-tance. "It's funny, but that's when I realized it was me in trouble and I yelled for help. A minute or two later a paramedic was climbing down inside the cab through the broken window. "I TOLD HIM I was okay and asked what happened. He told me I hit a house. But I couldn't believe it." Davis County rescue squad worked for nearly an hour to free the slightly injured but mighty scared truck driver from the crushed cab. JERRY SAID he saw for the first time what had happened as he watched the news on television. "I guess I realize as much as anyone . how lucky I am to be alive, and how fortunate for-tunate it is that no one else was involved in this thing. It scares me just to think about it." HE SAID HE was still stiff and sore Sunday, but "feeling much better." Asked about driving trucks again, Jerry replied that his employer, Allen Enterprises, En-terprises, of West Jordan, had told him that he had no hard feelings and that he was welcome to remain employed as a truck driver. "BUT I'M going to have to think that over a little bit," he said with a laugh. "I'm not ready to climb back into a truck cab just yet." r - V 5"X 'T, XVX.,. x z X :-. J |
