Donald I. McClain died saving Thomas J. Alton, 69, carpenter, and an indeterminate number of other persons from a runaway truck, Field, British Columbia, August 12, 1959. While McClain, 30 truckdriver, was driving his tractor-trailer down a winding mountain highway along the edge of a canyon, the brakes failed; and the rig, which was hauling heavy machinery and weighed approximately 15 tons, began to pick up speed. As the vehicle moved toward an observation area on the canyon side of the road where Alton and other workmen were erecting a sign, McClain kept sounding the horn to warn them and approximately 30 other persons who had stopped to enjoy the view. McClain urged the man riding with him to jump from the cab, stating that he himself would do so after he had guided the rig past the people at the observation area. The man jumped, sustaining only a minor injury; and the vehicle continued down the mountainside, its speed of 30 m.p.h. steadily increasing. McClain, still sounding the horn, steered the rig safely past the observation area. Standing with one foot on a metal step outside the cab, McClain turned the vehicle, then traveling at about 50 m.p.h., into a side road. The front bumper struck a projecting rock, and McClain either jumped or was thrown from the cab against the mountainside. The tractor then struck another rock nearly head-on, causing the rig to buckle. The trailer and the machinery toppled onto McClain, crushing him to death. 44934-4377
44934 – 4377
44934-4377