DENVER MAN ESCAPES SERIOUS INJURY IN ACCIDENT

By Jon Mayhew

BURKE COUNTY -- An eastern Lincoln County man escaped serious injury Tuesday morning in a Burke County accident where weather and speed were factors in the crash.

According to North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper J.D. Allen, Robert Clark was driving his International tractor-trailer on Highway 181 south of Morganton when he lost control. Clark is a driver for Finish Line Transport.

The accident happened after Clark sideswiped a guardrail on the highway near the Brown Mountain overpass.

"After sideswiping the guardrail, Clark overturned down an embankment," said Allen, adding the semi came to rest on its roof. "It had previously been raining and was foggy at the time."

It took firefighters about an hour to free the trapped driver from the cab of the pickup; within four hours, authorities had the tractor trailer removed from the embankment. Clark was treated and released for non-life threatening injuries at Grace Hospital in Morganton.

Allen cited Clark for failing to maintain a safe speed. Highway 181 at the Brown Mountain overlook was closed down for several hours while authorities investigated the accident and cleaned up the scene.