Close call in Middleton

By Lawrence Powell

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

“By the grace of God nobody was hurt.”

Those were the words of Bob Flynn whose Honda, Ridgeline truck fell off the hoist at the Irving station in Middleton just before lunch on Monday, Aug. 11.

“Accidents happen,” said Flynn of Nictaux, who spent several hours watching as garage owner Jack Westcott and staff, along with Steve Morse of Steve Morse Towing, worked to extract the vehicle from the service bay and flip it back onto its wheels.

Westcott said it was too soon to say what happened. He said the hoist was inspected in November and was deemed to be in good shape. He said one of the four arms that swing out to hold vehicles may have kicked out, causing the truck to be off balance.

The truck fell on its side between the two hoist posts and took the bay door along for the ride.

Westcott said the truck didn’t fall all at once, but in several stages.

An employee had just walked out from under the truck and was at a toolbox when the accident happened.

Westcott said the main thing was that nobody was hurt. He’s called in an expert to look at the chain-operated hoist to see if there may have been a malfunction.

Morse had two tow trucks on the scene and used the crane arm of the larger truck to extend into the garage. The Honda was wrapped in slings fastened to the crane while a chain and pulley system fastened to the bay roof kept the truck’s front end off the cement as it was pulled out. Still fastened to the crane, Morse used a cable from a second truck to pull the Honda back onto its wheels.

Westcott said Morse did a great job in extracting the vehicle and keeping further damage to a minimum.