Posted on 07/05/2005 12:01:24 PM PDT by Kennesaw
Vandals Attack, Cause Tanker To Overturn In Atlanta
The driver of a tanker carrying 7,500 gallons diesel fuel inadvertently flipped his truck trying to avoid a hail of rocks and lit fireworks, police said.
Apparently, people were throwing chunks of concrete at and setting off fireworks toward the truck as it traveled eastbound along Donald Lee Holloway Parkway, the former Bankhead Highway, just a mile west of Interstate 285, witnesses said. The driver – whose name has not been released – swerved out of harm’s way, but ended up flipping the tanker. The tanker flipped completely over while careening down a slight embankment, into a parking lot and slamming into a slightly wooded area.
Atlanta firefighters arrived at the scene about 2:30am and saw people standing on top of the overturned tanker as the driver tried to crawl out of the cab. Whether they were trying to rescue the driver or celebrating their attack has not been confirmed.
Atlanta fire spokeswoman Jolene Butts Freeman said, “It beats me. It’s something that you see out of a movie. When I arrived and got the information, I just thought it might have been [the] driver might have suffered some kind of health condition, had a heart attack or something.”
Firefighters managed to free the driver, who was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. He remains in critical condition having suffered serious head injuries in the crash.
The impact also caused the tanker to leak about 20 gallons of diesel fuel. While not posing a serious hazard, Atlanta firefighters and police did evacuate nearly 200 people from the nearby Bankhead Court Apartments.
The tanker’s owner, Penn Tank Lines, sent another tanker out to the scene to pick up the crashed tanker’s fuel. The evacuees are waiting for the fuel to be safely transferred before they will be allowed back into their homes, authorities said.
An environmental clean-up crew was also dispatched to the area.
Fire investigators are continuing to look into what exactly led to tanker’s crash and who may have been directly involved. No suspects or charges in the accident have been named.
Authorities say they received reports just a few hours before the accident of another tanker passing through the same area that had its front windshield cracked by rocks being thrown at it. Likewise, firefighters said they’ve had other objects thrown at their truck when they’ve come out to turn off fire hydrants that were illegally turned in the same area.
grrrrrrr. Punks.
Atlanta has been a quagmire ever since Sherman captured the city. Bring our troops home now!
Post-apocalyptic Atlanta, Bump
Attempted murder sounds like the right charge against these miscreants.
LOL
"along Donald Lee Holloway Parkway, the former Bankhead Highway,"
You can rename "Bankhead Highway", but since it's still located in a low-income, high-density-housing, high-crime area....it's still crappy, dangerous Bankhead Highway.
No more war for oil! This is all Dick Cheney and Halliburton's fault!!! Workers of the world unite!!! blah, blah, blah.....
Arsonist hopefuls.
If I were the trucking company, I would take my sweet time transferring it until somebody at the apartments came up with some info. My money is on some local kids.
Miscreants! You mean Freedom Fighters... driving an oil truck through their neighborhood was an insult to them!
What are they so upset about? Or is this just what passes for youthful highjinks in Atlanta?
Gee, I figured this would happen along Memorial Drive....errrrrr, the Cynthia McKinney Parkway.
}:-)4
"Apparently, people were throwing chunks of concrete at and setting off fireworks toward the truck as it traveled eastbound ...."
Hey, what's wrong with a little fun among scuzz buckets?
Ted Turner must have been pretty cheap with the fireworks show this year.
Miscreants is definitely the right word. I hope there are arrests real soon.
The callousness continues to grow in America with more and more people showing more and more disregard for both the life and property of others. It is sickening.
"You can rename "Bankhead Highway", but since it's still located in a low-income, high-density-housing, high-crime area....it's still crappy, dangerous Bankhead Highway."
Yup...they did the same thing with Stewart Ave.
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