Driver escapes without injuries
By Scott Bellile
Nobody was injured when a semi carrying 25 to 30 tons of cabbages tipped over outside GLK Foods in Bear Creek Wednesday, Sept. 28.
The accident happened at 400 Clark St. sometime before 4 p.m. The truck was dropping off heads of cabbage at the unloading zone on the plant’s east side, just south of Durrell Street. Clark Street was blocked for over an hour.
GLK Foods Plant Manager Dennis Mann said he wasn’t outside at the time, but what he believed happened is while the truck’s bed was upright, as it poured the cabbages out the tailgate, some cabbages got wedged in the bed and didn’t fall onto the pile. The truck probably got top-heavy with cabbages and tipped on its side. The motorist was in the driver’s seat at the time.
“Somehow one way or another he lost the center of gravity,” Mann said, adding the driver did nothing wrong.
Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department and Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department were called to the scene but no EMS was needed, fire Capt. Gary Janke said. Clintonville Ambulance checked in before 5 p.m. to make sure.
“The only thing that mattered was that everyone was OK,” Mann said. “We had a number of our first responders and leaders immediately on site.”
The logo on the side of the truck said it was delivering from Lauer Farms in Almond.
Mann said such an incident hasn’t happened before during his three years with the company. He said because a number of employees are trained in emergency response, they were able to band together and react appropriately.
The 25 to 30 tons of cabbages will be discarded, he said.
Chester Neumann, a resident on Clark Street, said he hasn’t witnessed such a crash in his 40 years living in town.
“Never seen one tipped over here like that, nope,” Neumann said.
Janke said truck tips happen more than one might think in the area given the amount of farming activity Wisconsin has.