A dump truck carrying a load of rock narrowly avoided tragedy when the driver’s brakes failed on Williamson Circle in DeKalb County.
According to investigating Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremy Tramel, driver Lawrence Buchanan, 53, of Murfreesboro was operating a 1997 Ford dump truck traveling north on Williamson Circle.  The truck was traveling down an incline and the brakes failed.  Buchanan attempted to steer the vehicle up a driveway when it struck a ditch on the right side of the roadway and overturned onto the driver’s side.
It appeared to be quick thinking on the part of Buchanan as Williamson Circle is a winding lakeside road with steep drop-offs along, and if the truck had left the roadway at another location, the results could have been much worse.
Buchanan was extricated from the truck by DeKalb County Fire and Rescue who had to remove the front window of the truck, and transported to DeKalb Saint Thomas Hospital by DeKalb County EMS.
Buchanan was properly restrained in the vehicle and was conscious and alert as he was helped to the waiting ambulance.