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September 23, 2009

Driver from Monday coal spill found

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

Officers have located the driver of a coal truck whose lost load caused an accident on KY 26 Monday morning.

Officer Charles Garland with the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement division of the Kentucky State Police said the driver, James Gambrel of Knox County, admitted to losing his coal on the highway. 

Garland spoke with Gambrel Monday night. 

“He got scared and didn’t know what to do and just drove on,” Garland said. “He’s tore all to pieces, he was upset. You could tell he was upset, it was bothering him.”

Garland tracked down the driver with the help of witnesses who gave a description of the truck, driven with G&P; Contracting, and by calling a nearby coal tipple where Gambrel was likely headed. The tipple operator was able to give the name of a driver who brought in an “abnormal” load that day. 

According to reports, as Gambrel went through the 12-foot underpass on KY 26 in Faber Monday morning, the top of his coal load was scraped off and onto the road. 

“The pressure (of the coal in the underpass) popped the gate of his dump bed, and he had to physically get out of his truck and latch his gate,” Garland said, adding that, that explained the large amount of coal which made it onto the roadway. 

A single-axle highway department truck hauled off three loads of coal from the site, Garland said. 

The coal spill caused 88-year-old Glenn Cox of Rockholds to wreck at the scene shortly after the coal truck driver had left. 

Cox was flown to University of Kentucky Medical Center, where he was in stable condition as of Monday evening.

Gambrel faces — if anything — nothing more than a traffic citation for possible weight issues on a commercial vehicle. Anything else, Garland said, would likely be a civil issue. 

Garland added that Rockholds Volunteer Fire Department did an “excellent job” of cleaning up the area, which was shut down to traffic for about two hours.

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