The Daily Times

Two men were injured when a City of Alcoa Electric utility truck flipped on its side in the 4300 block of Sevierville Road in Maryville Tuesday morning.

The driver, 32-year-old Joshua Caplinger, and his passenger, Billy Sands, age unknown, both of Maryville, were part of a work crew with the City of Alcoa Electric Department, according to THP Trooper Phillip Warren.

They were traveling on Sevierville Road when the truck veered off the right side of the road. The vehicle attempted to get back on the road, overcorrected and rolled off the left side of the road.

A witness, Mark Graham of Maryville, told The Daily Times he was driving right behind the truck when it lost control.

“I was about 40 yards behind him, and he was going about 50-52 miles per hour,” Graham said. “He got off to the right shoulder and was going a little bit into the ditch, and it looked like he was going to flip over to the right side. It looked like he made an overcorrection and immediately veered over to the other side and then flipped on its side.

“The cab kind of dove into the bank and the driver got pinned behind the steering wheel,” Graham continued. “They had two or three other City of Alcoa trucks that were following him. They immediately got here and got out and tried to get him freed from behind the steering wheel.”

Graham said he never felt that he was in danger.

“When the truck flipped over, fuel dumped out of the fuel tank,” he said. “I pulled over and got over here (pointing), to make sure it wouldn’t explode. I called 911 immediately.”

Caplinger and Sands were taken via Rural/Metro to Blount Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released. It was not known if Caplinger was wearing his seat belt, but Sands was, according to Warren.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol, Blount County Sheriff’s Office, the Blount County Fire Department, Blount County Rescue Squad and Rural/Metro Ambulance Service were on the scene at about 11:06 a.m.