COLUMBIA — A Columbia man was in fair condition Friday afternoon after his pickup ran off U.S. 63 and flipped into a ditch Friday morning, Columbia police said.
At about 9:45 a.m., William Self, 52, was driving north on the highway in his white pickup, according to a news release from the police department. When the hydraulic pit cleaner he was hauling hit the railroad tracks at the Columbia Terminal railroad crossing near Route B, the cleaner began to sway and caused Self to lose control of the truck.
Self was wearing his seat belt and was transported to University Hospital for facial lacerations and possible head trauma, according to the release.
Flattened grass showed the pickup’s path into the ditch, and broken glass from the windshield lie a few yards away from where the vehicle stopped. It had done a nearly 180-degree turn and ended up facing south in the ditch. The roof of the pickup’s cab was dented and the windshield was smashed. Blood was visible inside the truck’s cab.