Welding truck rear-ends turning tanker

A Dodge 3500 Heavy Duty crew cab pickup, with welder, rests with a broken frame following a high-speed rear end accident on U.S. Hwy. 82 Monday morning.

A 42-year-old Sadler man had to be cut out of his Ram 3500 Heavy Duty pickup Monday morning after ramming into the rear end of a tanker truck at highway speeds.

Nocona Rural Fire Department and Nocona EMS were paged to the accident at 7:52 Monday morning when the 2-ton service truck, loaded with a welder and other equipment, smashed into the back of a Skinner Tank Trucks, Inc., tanker driven by Tanner Reid, 24, of Nocona.

Both vehicles were westbound on U.S. Highway 82.

Reid was attempting to turn south onto Longbranch Road when the 2011 model Ram, also west bound, ran up on the turning vehicle.

Reid told The Nocona News that he saw the approaching vehicle in his rear view mirror and “knew” he was going to be hit, so he accelerated into the turn attempting to pull out of the way of the approaching truck, but he was unable to completely clear the intersection before the accident occurred.

“He told me he went to sleep,” Reid commented.

Read more in this week’s edition of The Nocona News.