TRACY, Mo. — A tractor-trailer failed to stop at a major roadway intersection Thursday, Oct. 19, careening into Tracy City Park and destroying an outbuilding in what looked like a wild ride for the driver and passenger.
At about 5:30 p.m., Platte City Police Department officers, Platte County Sheriff’s Office deputies and a Northland Regional Ambulance District crew responded to the scene. The tractor-trailer entered the area traveling eastbound on Highway 92 coming from the direction of Leavenworth, Kan.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
The front view of a damaged tractor-trailer that tore through Tracy City Park on Thursday, Oct. 19 in Tracy, Mo. The vehicle destroyed an outbuilding before coming to rest near First Street.
According to a male passenger, the driver was unable to stop at the T-intersection signal and traveled across Branch Street into the grassy area. The tractor-trailer clipped the edge of an outbuilding containing toilets before just missing a large public gazebo.
Track marks showed the driver made a sharp right-hand turn, hitting the concrete pad underneath the wooden gazebo. Two rims were severely bent and two tires flattened, helping the truck come to a stop just before crossing First Street and heading toward the wooded area bordering the Platte River.
The driver was taken from the scene by ambulance to an area hospital for treatment of injuries. Witnesses indicated he was bleeding from the head and might have been hurt when the collision with the outbuilding busted the driver’s side window and tore off other parts of the tractor-trailer.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
A Platte County Sheriff’s Office deputy and Platte City Police Department officer investigate the tire tracks from where a tractor-trailer left the roadway Thursday, Oct. 19 at the intersection of Branch Street and Highway 92 in Tracy, Mo. The driver left the roadway and destroyed the outbuilding, partially shown at front left.
The passenger indicated that the driver failed to stop after losing feeling in his legs.
Witnesses near the scene said the truck appeared to be traveling anywhere between 25 and 40 miles per hour when it crossed Branch Street into the park. The trailer was empty at the time of the crash and remained connected to the truck despite making an almost 90-degree turn near the gazebo.
Some residents in Tracy reported hearing the sound of the crash from blocks away. About a dozen curious people gathered at the scene to assess the damage and wayward tractor-trailers path.
Officials later put up caution tape and a temporary barrier around the outbuilding, left knocked off the concrete base with one wall completely missing.
No other vehicles were involved, and the driver was the only reported injury. Investigation into the crash continued early this week with no final report available.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
A look at the side of the outbuilding a tractor-trailer clipped Thursday, Oct. 19 at Tracy City Park in Tracy, Mo.