Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994                   TAG: 9404080149
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DRIVER CHARGED AFTER LOADER FALLS OFF TRUCK ONTO ROADWAY

Just what do you do when an 80,000-pound front-end loader falls off a truck bed and digs into the asphalt in the middle of a busy road?

A lot of thinking and a lot of waiting.

Around 6 p.m. Wednesday, the driver, Michael F. Coville of Windsor, Conn., made a wrong turn onto Gus Nicks Boulevard off U.S. 460, police said. As the truck crossed into Vinton, near Holdren's Country Store, Coville tried to turn around. But the slope of the road caused a wheel on the loader to drag.

Coville, 43, was hauling the loader for Keen Transport Inc. of Hudson, Ohio, to South Boston, police said. He was charged by the Vinton Police Department with driving under the influence of drugs, said Cpl. R.A. Thompson.

Police found four types of prescription medicine in the cab of the truck, Thompson said. He wouldn't say what the drugs were. Coville was given a blood test, but the laboratory analysis of the blood sample had not been completed Thursday.

A claims officer for Keen Transport said Thursday the company was aware that Coville was taking prescription medicine, and is investigating Coville's situation and the possible side effects of the medicine he was taking.

Wednesday, the scene resembled something that kids playing with toy trucks in a sandbox would have a much easier time creating.

"That's a piece of machinery worth $450,000 to half a million dollars," said Vinton Police Sgt. M.A. Vaught as he waited for tow trucks to try to hoist the loader.

Tim Hoback of Roanoke was following in his vehicle when Coville got into his predicament.

"He tried to pull it out three times before the police got here," Hoback said. "The third time, his wheels were spinning and the loader was pulling so hard it broke two load binders on the back."

The road remained closed as three multiton tow trucks tried unsuccessfully from several different angles to pull the loader back into place. Twice, the weight of the loader pulled one of the trucks off its front wheels, its thick towing cables snapping like tree limbs.

The road was finally reopened around 11:30 p.m.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Lt. Bill Brown of the Vinton Police Department.

Staff writer Diane Struzzi contributed information to this story.