By Ryan McFadden

News Editor

A driver was taken to the hospital after his pickup truck and trailer crashed into the McMichael Creek in Stroudsburg last week.

The driver was using a large metal trailer to haul a metal container on south Broad Street before turning around, driving north back toward town, and then hitting a minivan, according to witnesses.

The minivan and its driver appeared uninjured, but the pickup veered left on north Broad Street, and down the bank into the cold creek.

“The driver had a medical emergency,” said an officer at the scene.

An apparent seizure had incapacitated him behind the wheel, according to witnesses.

An eyewitness passing by at the right moment climbed down the bank to help the driver out of the partially flooded cab.

The driver was conscious and responsive to questions, placed in a neck brace and then loaded into an ambulance that arrived at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono a short time later.

The incident shut down Broad Street from the bridge connecting Main to Broad to the exit ramp up the hill mid-afternoon. The police, fire department and a heavy-duty wrecker recovery crew arrived to pull the truck out of the creek.

A crowd gathered on the opposite side of the creek to watch the recovery effort and to speculate on what caused the circumstance and the condition of the driver.

The recovery crew used a heavy-duty tow truck to drag the pickup from its watery pit.

As the wrecker began struggling to move the pickup and its metal trailer, the pickup’s driver side door hung wide open.

“The door is still open. Your gonna rip it off!” A group of onlookers yelled from across the creek.

The towing stopped. Someone from the recovery crew scampered down the muddy bank and closed the door. Immediate applause followed the effort.

More than a dozen people stood to watch the recovery process. Some took photos, others asked if the driver was ok and some did both simultaneously.

Eventually the truck and trailer were safely pulled back onto Broad Street and the crowd dispersed.

Email Ryan at:

rmcfadden5@live.esu.edu