A truck driver faces charges in connection with an accident Monday that killed cows and shut down a section of road near Clarkesville.
The GA 365 southbound on-ramp at the Tom Arrendale Interchange was closed for over 10 hours after the truck overturned Monday night.
Georgia State Patrol Trooper Travis Sanders with Post 7 in Toccoa says the driver lost control in the curve and struck a guardrail. The truck fell onto its right side and slid part way down an embankment before being caught by some trees. The rig was loaded with between 65 and 70 calves.
The accident wiped out several hundred feet of guardrail. The driver walked away from the crash. Habersham EMS treated him at the scene for minor scrapes and cuts. He refused to be transported to the hospital, officials say.
Crews secured the overturned vehicle by hooking it up to a tow truck with cables and chains. Once it was secure, rescuers began working to free the cattle.
Cattle wranglers were called in to try and save the cows trapped inside the vehicle.
Wrangle rescue
Two wranglers from Franklin County Livestock, Kevin Cox and Cody Mousseau, used horses and rope to pull some of the cows to safety. “The horses mean everything. They’ve got hearts of lions,” says Cox.
It was a long and tedious task. Three and a half hours into the rescue only about a third of the cows were freed. They were herded through a corral onto a waiting truck.
Many of the cows did not survive. Whether they died in the accident or had to be put down remains unclear, but Habersham Emergency Services Director Chad Black says “multiple” cows died.
An agent from the Georgia Department of Agriculture was on scene monitoring the rescue effort. Emergency crews remained on the scene until 6 a.m. Tuesday, says Black. The DOT then barricaded the road for further cleanup. The road reopened around 9 a.m. Tuesday.
TFC Sanders says the driver will be charged with failure to maintain lane.
