Trucker’s sneeze sends rig into the woods
8/26/09 | 12 comments

Trucker’s sneeze sends rig into the woods


By Dan MacLeod
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY GABOR DEGRE
Bouchard & Son Towing and A&M Sand and Gravel crews work on pulling a tractor-trailer up the embankment and back onto the pavement Tuesday afternoon after the truck went off Interstate 95 northbound in Newport around 4:20 Tuesday morning. The driver, Stanley Gray, 43, said that he blacked out when he sneezed, and the truck went off the road and into the trees. It took the crews several hours to cut down trees in order to pull the badly damaged truck out of the woods and mud. Gray suffered some scrapes and bruises.Buy Photo

NEWPORT, Maine — A tractor-trailer driver told Maine State Police he crashed his truck into the woods Tuesday after a sneeze caused him to black out.

Stanley Gray, 43, of Bolivar, Mo., was headed north through Newport at mile marker 158 on Interstate 95 on his way to Van Buren to pick up a load when he fell unconscious and drove into the trees on the right-hand side of the road at around 4:20 a.m., state police Trooper Seth Edwards said Tuesday.

“He claims that he sneezed and that caused the muscles in his upper back to tighten up and he blacked out,” he said.

“I go with what they tell me,” he said. “I’m no doctor, so I can’t say.”

According to Edwards, the truck had damage “well into the thousands [of dollars].” The truck’s tires were flattened and the front axle broken, he said.

Newport police assisted state police.

Bouchard & Sons Towing of Hampden was called in to remove the truck, which Edwards said was entirely in woods, wedged in among trees and large rocks.

The Bouchard crew spent nearly six hours cutting the trees and pulling out the rocks before finally removing the truck at around 12:30 p.m.

“It’s a total loss,” Wayne Bouchard said of the truck. He was still at the scene at 2:30 p.m.

“The rear end’s ripped out of it, the front end’s ripped out of it and the drive axle’s torn out the frame,” he said.

“We had to call in an excavator” to remove the rocks and trees, he said. They also called in a hydroseeder to reseed the torn-up grass.

After crews removed it from the trees, the tractor-trailer was carried on a flatbed truck to the storage lot at Bouchard Towing in Hampden.

Police said alcohol was not a factor in the crash. Gray was wearing a seat belt and was not injured.

“He has a cut on his forehead that was treated by the ambulance [crew],” Edwards said. The driver refused transport to a hospital.

Edwards said the only passenger was a dog, which was uninjured.

Police said Gray had stopped at the Pilot truck stop in Fairfield, but didn’t know the driver’s origin or what he was going to pick up in Van Buren.

A representative for Landstar Ranger Inc., the driver’s employer in Jacksonville, Fla., declined to comment.

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Comments
12 comments on this item
On 8/26/09 at 5:28 AM, HippyKicker wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I'm sure being fatigued or over-tired had nothing to do with going off the road at 4:20am. Never heard of a Sneeze making a healthy individual black out. Glad no one was seriously hurt in this.

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On 8/26/09 at 8:30 AM, jeeper1 wrote: Click here to view hidden comment         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
On 8/26/09 at 8:58 AM, DaddyBiggs wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Here we go...lawmakers in Augusta scrambling to make driving with a cold illegal.

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On 8/26/09 at 9:10 AM, PabMainer wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Sneezing can actually cause a vasovagal response and result in someone having a brief period of syncope...I was driving up I-95 from Augusta the other day and sneezed! With all the rest areas being closed the result was pee my pants!!.....:)

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On 8/26/09 at 1:31 PM, paws51 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

lmao PabMainer...I almost peed mine reading yours lol

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On 8/26/09 at 1:42 PM, boogyman wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What's up BDN. Yesterday on this story I simply posted one word. Texting. You took it down immediately. Today someone suggests he was texting a hooker, and it's been up all day. What gives?

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On 8/26/09 at 2:22 PM, Hampden1 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Yeah he's probably way overweight, has a heart condition, smokes & shouldn't be driving a truck. I'm not picking on truck drivers!! but I can certainly can see the whole picture here. "Sneezed & Blacked Out" Come On!!!

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On 8/26/09 at 2:46 PM, Hampden1 wrote: Click here to view hidden comment         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
On 8/26/09 at 3:33 PM, BeavisJSmithThe3rd wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Pull over and sleep!Sneezed?C'mon!

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On 8/26/09 at 8:02 PM, ydnar723 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

As I said in the previous article (until the BDN ninja decided to delete comments for no reason) Whywould you refuse to be transported to the hospital after you "sneezed, blacked out and wrecked a truck"

Obviously. the truth is someplace else. if I had something odd like that happen to me, i'd want to be seen.

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On 8/26/09 at 8:26 PM, dextermaine wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Before you all jump to conclusions why don't you know the facts. A family member of mine who actually works for EMMC was the first responder to this accident. She was the one who called 911, she was the one who helped the man with his bleeding head. She was there while the medical crew checked him over etc. She said he was a very nice man. So all this BS about texting, falling asleep, and all the other rude remarks are uncalled for. He sneezed and blacked out. Do the research, it has happened before and will it will happen again. He unfortunatly was driving when it happened. He fell to the floor of his truck while blacking out. As a result he only cut his head. Why be taken to the emergency room if there was no need, the medical staff took care of it. Grow up and know the facts stop assuming what happened.

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On 8/27/09 at 2:42 PM, stangray wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

If the Bangor Daily News had even tried to contact me, you people with all the snide remarks might have more accurate information. The sneeze didn't cause the accident. When I sneezed it caused a catch in my back (like a pinched nerve) and the pain was what caused me to black out. I am overweight but have never smoked and I do not have a heart condition. I didn't go to the hospital because I knew what had happened. Of couse I will have to be recertified medicaly before I can drive again but that is best done by a DOT approved doctor trained in giving DOT physicals. I did not fall asleep. I had just taken a manditory 10 hour break and had only been behind the wheel about 30 minutes. I have over 20 years of accident free driving and close to 3 million accident free miles. If you don't believe that either, thats your problem. I don't guess this posting will make much of a difference in what most of you think, but atleast I got it off of my chest. I started to call some posters out one at a time and respond, but there are just too many to mess with. I do want to mention 2 post. Daddybiggs that was funny. and Dextermaine Your family member was very nice and attentive. Please tell her once again, thanks. S.R.Gray

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