Loaded Cattle Truck Overturns On Broken Arrow Expressway

A semi-tractor trailer hauling a load of cattle overturned on the Broken Arrow Expressway in Tulsa.

The truck flipped over in the westbound lanes of the B.A. near Utica at about noon. 

Dozens of firefighters, police and animal control officers responded to the accident, which blocked all but one lane of the Broken Arrow Expressway.

The semi was loaded with cattle being moved from a sale barn in Mississippi to a feedlot in Kiowa, Kansas. The driver told police he swerved to avoid a pickup that moved into his lane.

"Truck hit the inside wall, little bit, lost control, flipped over and slid into the outside wall," said Stan May, Tulsa Fire Department.

The crash left the semi on its side but the driver wasn't hurt. The bridge was slightly damaged but it wasn't significant.

The semi trailer was loaded with 80 head of cattle, which were trapped in the twisted wreckage.

Rescuers used a cutting torch to cut off the back gates - and cut through internal barriers on the trailer. The job took all afternoon.

"We couldn't upright the truck because the cattle were already on the sidewall, and we'd injure more of them. So we had to cut the back door out, and it turned out to be reinforced with steel. So it took a little longer than we thought it would," May said,

The fire department set up a loading chute on the highway and the sheriff's department responded with trailers to load up the cattle.

The injured cattle were taken to a veterinarian in Muskogee for treatment.