6/17/2009
ERIN MATHEWS
A full concrete truck headed to the old Smoky Hill Weapons Range left the road and rolled Wednesday afternoon, trapping the driver inside on Water Well Road.
Michael E. Whipple, 62, Miltonvale, was taken to Salina Regional Health Center after the Salina Fire Department rescue squad extricated him from the truck, said Saline County Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Heinrich. A hospital spokeswoman reported that he was being treated in the emergency room and she did not know if he would be admitted to the hospital.
A helicopter came to the crash scene but did not transport Whipple, Heinrich said.
The crash occurred at about 2:40 p.m. on the gravel road about a half mile west of Hohneck Road, said Capt. Brian Shea.
The truck, owned by Concrete Supply of Topeka, was headed west when it got too close to the right edge of the road and rolled into the ditch.
Crews came to the crash scene to repair a hole on the edge of the road and to dump thousands of pounds of concrete out of the truck so that it could be uprighted, Shea said.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do with the concrete,” Shea said. “It may end up looking like a giant bird flew over.”