A truck driver was pinned in his truck for more than 5 hours Monday morning after he was ran off the road by an intoxicated wrong-way driver.
The incident occurred on Texas 71 between Bastrop and Smithville.
Adolfo Vazquez was driving a white pickup west down the eastbound lanes of the highway. Truck driver Tim Loch was traveling east when he swerved to avoid hitting Vazquez, causing his truck to roll off the highway.
Loch’s truck was severely damaged. It took first responders 5 hours to free him. Firefighters had to use saws to cut away the crushed cab.
“The way the cab was mangled, we couldn’t get to him from the driver’s side,” Smithville Fire Department chief James Elam told the Statesman. “We had to go through the back window.”
Loch was transported to Brackenridge Hospital. The extent of his injuries are unknown at this time.
Bastrop firefighter Mike Norman said, “The man’s left leg was tangled up in the clutch and brake pedals…We’ve never taken that long to get a live body out of a vehicle. That driver was a tough guy.”
Vazquez was arrested and charged with intoxicated assault.