Tractor-Trailer Overturns on California 150

A truck driver hauling 44,000 pounds of bananas lost control of his rig on California 150 on Wednesday and overturned, spilling about 15 gallons of diesel fuel.

The fruit was packed inside a refrigerated 48-foot trailer and was not damaged.

Driver Richard Bell of Tacoma, Wash., was uninjured in the 1:35 p.m. crash on the curvy Dennison Park grade near Reeves Road, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

Bell’s employer, Gordon Trucking Inc., also of Tacoma, suspended him without pay, said company spokesman Phil Hinshaw. The suspension is company procedure, he said.

Bell, 36, could be terminated depending on the outcome of an internal investigation, Hinshaw said. Bell is a four-year employee with a good driving record, he added.

“He shouldn’t have been on that road,” Hinshaw said.

Bell had picked up the bananas at a Port Hueneme dock and was traveling to Tacoma when he missed a turnoff for California 126, which connects truckers to Interstate 5. Bell opted to take the mountain route, which intersects California 126, Hinshaw said.

“It’s a decision he probably regrets,” Hinshaw said.

Maintenance crews had been filling potholes near the crash site and vehicles were being escorted around the work. Bell was slowly maneuvering a curve when he failed to swing wide enough to avoid tipping over, Hinshaw said.

California Department of Transportation workers cleaned up the fuel, said California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Reid. A commercial tow truck responded to remove the wrecked rig. The two-lane road remained open with traffic being escorted around the spill, Reid said.