Garbage truck snags power lines, takes down poles

While southbound on Gillespie Street late Tuesday morning, a garbage truck caught power lines, taking down lines as well as five poles in the area.

Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

No one was injured late Tuesday morning when a garbage truck snagged power lines, taking down several poles, on the city’s west side.

Shortly after 11 a.m., Coy Dickey, 52, Fillmore, was southbound on Gillespie Street in a Jack’s Trash truck, Greencastle Police Officer Justin Herd told the Banner Graphic.

Dickey had recently left the transfer station on Columbia Street after dumping a load and had apparently forgotten to lower the back hatch of the truck. As Dickey continued southbound on Gillespie, the hatch snagged a Duke Power line, which Dickey did not initially notice.

In catching lines that ran across Gillespie Street, the truck tooke down two poles running east along Franklin Street.

Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

As he proceeded southbound, the tension on the line started a chain reaction, taking down lines and five poles along Gillespie Street as well as east on Franklin Steet.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the accident.

After a bystander called the incident in to Putnam County Dispatch, GPD arrived on the scene at 11:06 a.m. to secure the area and close streets, with assistance from the Department of Public Works.

The incident closed Gillespie Street between Washington and Columbia, as well as Franklin from Gillespie to Jefferson.

Duke Energy was soon on scene to re-set poles and restore power. While just one home was initially reported as part of the outing, the process of running new lines caused power to be cut to additional customers, bringing the total number of outages to nine as of 1:15 p.m.

Duke crews were expected to remain on the scene throughout the aternoon and perhaps into evening.

The truck itself was not damaged and was driven from the scene.