Concrete truck tumbles

Loaded mixer blocks Cedar St. curve for 3 hours

By DAVID COLBURN

News editor

A loaded cement mixer headed to a job site Tuesday didn’t make the curve at Main and Cedar Streets, toppling onto its side and blocking the road for about three hours.

“He was just going way too fast for the curve and dumped it over,” sheriff’s deputy Mike Ottensmeier said. “When he hit the pavement he had to hit hard because there was 10 yards of concrete in that truck.”

Kyle Edwards of Peabody had taken on a load of concrete at the Builders Concrete and Supply mixing facility in Hillsboro, and was headed to a construction site on East Main St. when the mixer rolled into the westbound lane just east of Cedar St. at 7:05 a.m.

Marion ambulance, firefighters, and police rushed to the scene. City maintenance workers redirected traffic onto side streets as firefighters spread absorbent material on fluids leaking from the mixer. The cement drum was not ruptured.

Using a specialized crane truck and a heavy-duty towing rig, Auto House Towing employees pulled the mixer upright onto two large inflatable bags that gently lowered it to the street.

Edwards was examined by ambulance personnel, and appeared uninjured as he walked around the scene. He was not taken to a hospital.

Ottensmeier issued tickets to Edwards for excessive speed and for having two tires with excessive tread wear. Ottensmeier could not say if the tires were a contributing factor to the accident.