Tractor Trailer Rig Overturns on Highway 56 South

A tractor trailer rig overturned on Highway 56 south near Sink Creek Thursday afternoon. The driver of the rig, 66 year old Jimmy McGowan of West Green Hill Road, Smithville was pinned inside the cab for more than an hour as fire and rescue workers labored to free him with extrication equipment. The truck had no cargo in the trailer. A helicopter ambulance was summoned and landed in a field across the highway from the scene waiting to airlift the truck driver. He was later flown to Vanderbilt hospital.
The accident was reported to Central Dispatch at 1:24 p.m.
According to Trooper Chris Delong of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, McGowan was traveling south on Highway 56 when the semi went off the right shoulder of the road. McGowan then overcorrected causing the rig to go back across the highway and over a private driveway and an embankment, clipping a utility pole before coming to rest on its side. Because the trailer blocked most of highway, traffic was tied up and had to be diverted for several hours.
In addition to DeKalb EMS and Life Force, others on the scene were members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department, and members of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department, and North Warren Fire Department who were apparently called to provide mutual aid back up manpower support.