A man escaped with his life Sunday morning when his truck ran off a bridge, careened nearly 30 feet, and slammed upside down within inches of the water below.
The driver, William D. Cleghorn, 35, was taken to River Park Hospital for treatment following the harrowing ride that saw his Nissan D21 break in half as it flew over Faulkner Springs Bridge on Bluff Springs Road.
According to Sheriff’s Department reports, the wreck happened around 9 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of Bluff Springs Road and Upper Faulkner’s Factory Road. Cleghorn was traveling west on Bluff Springs when he lost control of his truck on the wet pavement.
His vehicle traveled onto the shoulder and ran over a newspaper box before slamming into the edge of the concrete bridge safety rail. However, the rail was not enough to stop the truck’s momentum as it found an unprotected gap on the side of the bridge and plunged over the edge.
The bed of the truck separated from the frame in mid-air as the truck flipped, propelling the back portion of the truck into the middle of the rain-swollen creek. Meanwhile the cab, where Cleghorn was restrained by his seatbelt, slammed into the bank below, landing upside down within inches of the water.
While conscious after the hard impact, Cleghorn found his arm pinned in the wreckage. Fire and ambulance personnel were able to free him and bring him to the top of the embankment to meet the ambulance. A crane was used to retrieve the wreckage given its location at the bottom of the bridge.