Garbage truck goes over embankment, overturns, shutting down Cary Algonquin Road

The driver of a garbage truck was taken to an area hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening after the truck went over an embankment at a T intersection outside Cary Friday morning.

According to Cary Fire Protection District spokesman Alex Vucha, firefighters were called at 10:41 a.m. to the area of Cary Algonquin Road at Klasen Road for the single-vehicle crash involving a commercial vehicle.

The garbage truck went over the embankment and rolled onto its side, landing near a grain silo. Firefighters had to extricate the driver, who was then taken by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital. A medical helicopter was initially requested but then turned back after further evaluation of the patient, Vucha said, adding the driver had moderate injuries.

The natural gas-fueled garbage truck was carrying residential trash when it crashed and had a leak in its fuel system believed sustained in the crash, Vucha said. Firefighters were able to mitigate the leak, he added.

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the crash, asked motorists to avoid the area following the crash just before 11 a.m.

The road was reopened just before noon Friday, according to Vucha, but the truck was still on site at the time of the release. “Because the vehicle came to rest well off the roadway, traffic was reopened prior to the removal of the truck,” Vucha said in a prepared statement.