In The News

Driver dies as rig plunges off bridge

John Robert Short, a 57-year-old truck driver from Willards, MD, was killed Sunday, Aug. 10, when his truck plunged off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge following a three-vehicle accident.

According to The Associated Press, the accident occurred at about 4 a.m. on Sunday morning as the truck was heading westbound across the 4-mile-long, twin span bridge.

The westbound span of the bridge was closed for maintenance at the time of the crash. All traffic had been reduced to two lanes on what is normally the eastbound span of the bridge.

The truck is owned by Mountaire Farms, a poultry processing company based in Selbyville, DE. Short’s body was removed from the truck about an hour and a half after the accident.

Authorities are not speculating on what caused the accident, but one of the other drivers involved told the Baltimore Sun that he was driving behind a Camaro when it collided with the truck. According to that witness, the truck spun out of control and hit the other car, a Toyota Prius, before crashing through the side wall and tumbling over the bridge.

Two people in the Camaro – the driver and one passenger – suffered minor injuries. The driver of the Prius was not injured.