Rock Truck Driver Trapped in Wreckage After Violent Rollover
The crushed cab of the 2011 International rock truck is shown after the driver was extracted from the wreckage using the Jaws of Life. Emergency crews worked for more than an hour to free him. Photo by Echo Menges
Jaws of Life Used to Free Driver From Crushed Truck Cab
By Echo Menges
KNOX COUNTY, Mo. — Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025 – A rock truck driver from Greentop is lucky to be alive after a violent rollover crash in Knox County Tuesday afternoon.
According to a witness, the fully loaded tractor-trailer was headed north on Missouri Route 15 when it rolled completely over—rotating more than 360 degrees—and landed on the driver’s side. The roof of the cab was crushed flat, and the truck came to rest on the north side of the highway at a curve known locally as Three Mile Corner, about three miles north of Edina near Route EE.
“Yeah, he rolled all the way over,” said a witness who was driving southbound at the time. “I saw his back wheels come up off the highway on the driver’s side when he was taking the curve, and when the trailer went, it took the cab with it.”
The crash was so forceful that gravel from the trailer spilled out and covered the ground around the truck, blanketing the ditch and roadside in rock.
The crash happened around 1:20 p.m., sending dozens of emergency responders to the scene and closing the northbound lane of Highway 15.
Emergency personnel work to free a 62-year-old man from the wreckage following a rock truck rollover on the north side of Highway 15, about three miles north of Edina. Photo by Echo Menges
Crews arrived to find the 62-year-old driver from Greentop still trapped inside the cab, his legs pinned between the seat and the crushed dashboard. According to reports from the scene, the driver was conscious and communicating with first responders throughout the hour-long rescue.
The cab had dug so deep into the snow-covered ground that firefighters couldn’t immediately get the air lift bags under it. Hoses were pulled around all sides of the truck in case fuel or other accelerants ignited during the rescue.
A Baring volunteer firefighter stands with a hose beside the undercarriage of an overturned rock truck as crews work to free the driver on the opposite side. Hoses were deployed around the truck in case fuel or other accelerants ignited during the extraction. Photo by Echo Menges
Emergency response included the Baring and Edina volunteer fire departments, the Knox County Rescue Squad, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, the Knox County Ambulance District, Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop B, Air Evac Lifeteam MU4 helicopter out of Adair County, and Lakeside Towing from Scotland County.
Lakeside used a heavy-duty winch and cable to give crews the room they needed to place the air lift bags, lift the wreckage, and finally use the Jaws of Life to free the driver at around 2:26 p.m.
He was stabilized in a Knox County ambulance and flown by Air Evac MU4 to University of Missouri Hospital in Columbia.
Air Evac Lifeteam MU4 from Adair County lifts off from the crash scene on Missouri Route 15 north of Edina, where a rock truck overturned on Dec. 9, 2025. The driver was airlifted with serious injuries. Photo by Echo Menges
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, his injuries are listed as serious. It is unknown if he was wearing a seatbelt.
The 2011 International truck was totaled in the crash and towed from the scene by Lakeside.
The northbound lane of Highway 15 was reopened at approximately 2:50 p.m.
B-ROLL Video Below by Echo Menges/The Edina Sentinel