Sunday, July 20, 2008

Water Truck accident -Off the Railroad

Unknown driver rolls water truck off railroad tracks
By The Reporter, Vacaville
Article source

A one-track mind led to a precarious position for an unknown driver of a wayward water truck Friday morning in Cordelia.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m., someone driving an allegedly stolen water truck entered the railroad tracks near Cordelia and Pittman Roads and drove up to a mile, including crossing one bridge, before rolling the truck and falling four feet into a creek bed.

The truck's driver fled the scene before officers arrived and the rental truck was reported stolen later in the day, said California Highway Patrol officer Darren Carrington.

Railroad traffic was stopped for about two hours as the vehicle was towed from the creek and a trestle broken in the accident was repaired. The tracks carry only freight trains that run between Fairfield and Napa.

Carrington said the department was investigating the reported theft of the truck but hadn't yet ruled out whether the Suisun man who rented it was responsible for the incident. He said the man's listed address was a short distance from where the truck is believed to have entered the tracks.

"Whether or not the vehicle was stolen, we don't know yet," Carrington said. "Whether he's the driver or not, we don't know that either."