Trailer flips on Main Street corner, spilling lift it was carrying

Trailer flips on Main Street corner, spilling lift it was carrying
by Dan McClelland
It was a very unusual accident early Monday morning in Tupper Lake, as manywere headed to school or work. Traffic came to a stop in the Junction near the railroad tracks when a trailer pulled by a small dump truck and carrying a commercial fork lift flipped over on its top, tossing its cargo free.
Daniel Cole of Antwerp, 54,  was headed west in front of the Main Street Restaurant when the trailer flipped. The weight of the lift device apparently pulled the trailer over on the sharp corner, tearing the hitch off the truck pulling it. The truck, trailer and lift machine were owned by Rob Reddick's Con Tech Building Systems of Gouverneur, a large commercial contractor in the North Country.
Mr. Cole was ticketed by village police for failure to keep right, but not for speeding.
There were apparently several violations in the condition of the trailer pointed up by troopers but no tickets were issued.
The accident happened shortly after 6a.m., blocking the state highway in large part for nearly two hours.  There were times when vehicles were rerouted slowly through the adjacent parking lot of the former gas station, now a wooden furniture and tiny house constructionbusiness.
There were both village and state police on the scene and the Tupper Lake firefighters where also there to direct traffic away from the clogged artery.  With Tupper Lake's street alignment and only one railroad crossing there was no way to by-pass the accident.  Traffic was backed up a half mile or so about 7:30a.m. to the east atthe Aaron Maddox Center and to the west a mile, beyond LeRoy's Auto Sales.
In the line-up waiting to move were several Tupper Lake school buses and a couple of pieces of heavy equipment headed for points around town.
Traffic began to move about 7:45a.m. through the parking lot- one lane at a time- and the both lanes of the highway were reopened shortly after 8a.m., according to village police.
Village, state and town road crews were also on the scene cleaning debris and glass.  Mark and Joel Counter of Counters' Garage were there with their wrecker to right and separate the trailer and lift device.  When they arrived the lift too was almost on its top, propped up by its large boom, Joel Counter said yesterday.
The trailer washauled to the headquarters of Paul Mitchell Logging down Main Street for some repairs to make it roadworthy again. It was still there yesterday.