A Boone truck driver

remained in intensive

care Wednesday morning

after his Coca Cola truck

struck a Jefferson dump

truck Monday.

Alex Moore of Boone

was traveling north on

U.S. 221 just north of

Idlewild Road Monday

morning when he

crossed the centerline

and struck a southbound

dump truck driven by

Richard Stone of Jefferson,

Patrolman Eddie

Hall of the Highway Patrol

said.

Hall said Moore’s

truck apparently initially

went off the road to the

right and the driver

overcorrected, causing

him to cross the centerline.

After the collision the

Coca Cola truck turned

completely around and

came to rest facing south

and overturned on its

passenger side on the

shoulder of the southbound

lane.

The engine came out

of the vehicle and was

found in a drainage ditch

nearby. Hall said.

Both drivers were taken

to Watauga Medical

Center. Stone was treated

and released and Moore was admitted to the ICU.

Charges are pending, the officer said,

but he preferred talking to Moore before

releasing that information.

Sparky Brown, a firefighter for Glendale

Spring Fire Department was at her

boyfriend’s house between 8:30 and 9 a.m.

when she heard a loud noise and felt the

collision between the dump truck and the

Coca Cola delivery truck.

She got her first aid kit and went to the

scene in front of the house to employ her

first responder skills.

She said she saw two people assisting

the driver of the Coca Cola truck, so she

went to the dump truck and had to pry

open the passenger side door to get to the

driver.

He had hit the windshield and I put a

cervical collar on his neck to immobilize

him,” she said. “I didn’t know what injuries

he might have to his neck.” Diesel

fuel poured from the truck she said.

Ashe County Emergency Management

was called to handle a diesel spill, the

trooper said.

Patty McMeans, Ashe County’s emergency

management coordinator, estimated

the amount of the fuel spill at around 100

gallons combined from both vehicles.

Some of the spill got into a drainage ditch

and the Fleetwood Fire Department took

the appropriate steps to contain the diesel,

she said.

They spread an absorbent material and

used absorbent pads to ensure that the fuel

did not make its way into a nearby creek.

“The offending party is the one responsible

for the cleanup,” McMeans said. “In

this case that is Coca Cola.” She said Coca

Cola contracted with a company to remove

the spill. Fluid has been pumped from the

drainage ditch and soil may need to be removed,

she said. She was continuing to

monitor the cleanup Wednesday.

Diesel covered parts of some nearby

trees and they may need to be removed,

she said.