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Video: Firefighters extricate driver pinned in crushed truck

The driver of the vehicle was trapped inside the cab for more than two hours while firefighters worked to free him

Chicago Tribune

ELMHURST, Ill. — A trucker was trapped inside his crushed cab for nearly two hours Tuesday at a construction site in Elmhurst as the fire department worked to rescue him.

The accident occurred at about 11:45 a.m. when the bed of the truck, which contained dirt, fell on the cab and crushed it, pinning the driver, who reportedly was airlifted to a DuPage County hospital.

The truck was at the Kensington School, a preschool and kindergarten under construction at 425 S. Spring Road. No one was in the building and no one else at the construction site was injured, Elmhurst Fire Chief Jeff Bacidore said.

“The truck (bed) tipped over and the driver was trapped. We realized right away it was going to be a long extrication,” Bacidore said.

Bacidore did not have the driver’s name or age available. He said the trucker was airlifted to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in a medical helicopter that landed at York High School, which is nearby.

Despite the 90 degree heat, Bacidore said the driver was conscious and alert throughout the extrication, which took two hours to complete.

“We gave him an IV and ice packs,” he said.

A portion of Spring Road, from approximately north of the Illinois Prairie Path to St. Charles Road, was closed while the driver was extricated and the truck was towed from the site. Removal of the truck was complicated because the bed still contained dirt.

“We wanted to make sure the load didn’t shift,” Bacidore said.

Bacidore said he did not know if the truck driver was entering or exiting the site when the accident occurred. He also did not know what caused the accident.

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