Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Driver critically injured in gravel dump truck crash that closed Del. 1 in Bear, DE


The driver was critically injured when his truck crashed and spilled gravel at about 2:30 p.m. Monday, closing Del. 1 in the Wrangle Hill area of Bear, just north of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.

The 53-year-old trucker was identified as Theodore L. Hartle, of Townsend, state police master Cpl. Jeffrey Hale said.

Hartle was taken to Christiana Hospital in critical condition after county paramedics treated him at the scene for a head injury, paramedic Cpl. Abigail E. Haas said.

Hartle was traveling southbound on Del. 1 just north of Del. 72 (Wrangle Hill Road) in the center lane when traffic began to slow in front of him, Hale said.

Hartle sharply applied his breaks and turned toward the center median where the left side of his truck struck a wire guardrail, Hale said. The dumptruck then turned on its side, his load of approximately 20 tons of gravel spilling onton the northbound lanes of Del. 1, Hale said. The crash occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m.

Hartle was issued a traffic citation for following too closely.

Rescuers from Delaware City Fire Company freed him in about 10 minutes, Haas said.

Both directions of the highway were closed for approximately two and a half hours, with all traffic being diverted onto Wrangle Hill Road (Del. 72), according to the state Department of Transportation.

However, limited traffic later was being directed past the crash site in two southbound traffic lanes and on one shoulder, Hale said.

Check back at Delawareonline.com for more information as it becomes available.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware. Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.