Truck Driver Risks Life to Avoid Hitting Children

A tractor trailer went down an embankment off of Hwy 76 around 4 pm yesterday just over the State Line in Oconee County. No severe injuries were reported, though the incident did cause traffic delays throughout the afternoon…

“I was coming down 76 here, eastbound, and there was a car stopped in the lane. I don’t know exactly what she was looking at, but I’m coming down the hill and by the time I realized that she actually wasn’t moving, it was to late because I have 40,000 lbs in that trailer.”

Explained truck driver Curtis Downing…

“I stood on the brakes but there was no way I was going to stop in time, and about that time I saw kids in the backseat, and I said to myself, I’ll kill myself before I kill a kid, and I yanked it hard left and went straight off there.”

Downing was en route from Chatsworth to Westminster.