Published: June 08, 2008 08:21 am      

Woodward man injured in truck accident

A Woodward area man was hospitalized for serious injuries that he sustained in a semi rollover accident north of Mooreland along State Highway 50 Friday afternoon.

David George Weber, 59, was flown from the scene by Air Evac to the OU Medical Center, where he was admitted with head, leg, arm and internal trunk injuries, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. He is listed in serious condition.

Weber was driving a 1993 Ford L-9000 tractor trailer loaded down with wheat southbound along Highway 50 around 3 p.m. Friday, when his left front tire blew, causing the vehicle to veer left, OHP said.

After leaving the roadway, the tractor trailer rig rolled one-half time before coming to a rest on its top.

Weber, who wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, was pinned for over an hour before emergency officials were able to extricate him with the assistance from a crane that had fortunately passed by around the time of the accident, OHP said.

“The left front tire blew out and it just wasn’t good from there on.”

That is what David Mueller had to say about the scene he saw in his pickup’s rearview mirror as he traveled southbound along State Highway 50 toward his home in Ringwood Friday afternoon.

Mueller had been talking on his cell phone and only happened to look in his rearview mirror at the exact moment that the tire blew on the semi behind him.

At first, he didn’t think the situation was that serious believing the semi would be fine as long as the driver could keep the rig heading straight.

But, seeing the semi start to veer, Mueller thought “we need help.”

He hung up his phone and immediately dialed 9-1-1 to report the accident, keeping his calm because of previous experience working for a rural fire department in the Ringwood and Meno area. With those firefighting instincts kicking in, Mueller then turned his pickup around to return to the scene and help out if he could.

Other passers-by also stopped at the scene, working quickly to put out the flames that had erupted from the overturned tractor trailer, Mueller said.

Elmer Maddux was working out in his wheat field when he got the message that his farm hand Weber had been in an accident.

He said Weber had been driving a load of wheat to the grain elevator in Mooreland.

But it wasn’t the spilled wheat or the totaled truck that had Maddux worried when he arrived on scene.

“My only problem is how is he (Weber),” Maddux said.

“The truck is lost, but we can handle that,” he said. “So if he (Weber) is okay, we’re all all right.”