GORDON - A New York truck driver was flown to a trauma center after the vehicle he was driving crashed at the bottom of the Gordon Mountain on Monday morning.
Butler Township police Patrolman Shawn Butler said the crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. when Pascual Santiago, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, was driving a 2009 International Harvester truck down the Gordon Mountain when the brakes apparently failed.
Butler said Santiago tried to make the turn onto Biddle Street but was unable to do so and his truck flipped onto its side, pinning the man inside.
Rescuers from Ashland worked to free Santiago from the cab of the truck and he was taken to a nearby area and placed in a helicopter to be flown to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville. Butler said the man was admitted in serious condition.
Butler said that the truck will be inspected today to determine if there was a mechanical failure.
He said witnesses said the brakes on the truck were smoking just moments before the crash, but any malfunction has yet to be determined.
Gordon and Ashland firefighters, Ashland EMS and Shenandoah ALS assisted at the scene.
Hours after the crash, crews worked to clean up dry spaghetti and other food that spilled from the truck onto a nearby driveway.
Monday's crash but one of many accidents that occurred over the past five years involving trucks descending the steep grade that joins Interstate 81 and Gordon borough.
In July of 2012, a 26-year-old Myerstown man escaped injury when the tractor-trailer he was driving crashed at the same location.
Police Chief Edward Tarantelli said Joshua Boyce was driving a tractor-trailer owned by Marten Transport LTD, Mondovi, Wisconsin, downhill on Gordon Mountain Road, also known as Highridge Street.
The vehicle apparently lost its brakes, traveled through the intersection with Biddle Street and into a wooded area between East and West Plane streets.
The truck exited the woods, entered West Plane Street and went through the intersection with West Elm Street and into a more densely wooded area where it came to a stop.
The truck's cab was ripped from the chassis and Boyce was able to free himself with the help of neighbors who rushed to the scene.