Mike Mendenhall, Newton Daily News, Iowa –
SULLY — Highway T22 was closed to traffic for an hour-and-a-half Thursday as the Iowa State Patrol and emergency and clean-up crews responded to a semi-truck rollover at 5:45 a.m. which trapped 166 head of hog in the attached trailer.
Iowa State Patrol Officer Duane Rozendaal said this morning that driver Brice Hospelhorn of Wall Lake was not injured during the crash that killed 28 of the hogs. The state trooper reported the trailer was turning at the intersection of South 28th Avenue East and Highway T22 north of Sully where Hospelhorn cut the corner too sharply and lost control. The trailer rolled into the northeast ditch and came to rest on its side, blocking the northbound lane. The driver had just picked up the hogs from a lot to the southeast of the accident and was transporting the livestock to an unknown slaughter house.
Kellogg ambulance crews used the Jaws of Life to cut open the trailer, relieving pressure to free the hogs. The Iowa Department of Transportation also had an investigator on scene, and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office provided assistance to the State Patrol. The highway reopened to one lane of traffic while crews finished the clean up.
The trailer was owned by O’Brien Trucking of Belle Plaine, and the truck was owned by Hospelhorn. The driver was cited with failure to maintain control as result of the accident.
