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Man injured when tractor slides down embankment

Gary E. Salazar

— A 23-year-old man was taken to Yampa Valley Medical Center Monday morning after a tractor he was driving slid down a 75-foot embankment.

The man, whom police did not identify, was loading material in a truck with a front-end loader when it slid backward down the embankment, said Steamboat Springs Police Officer Bill Stucker.

The man was backing up the front-end loader when it slid down the embankment at about 8 a.m. at the end of Steamboat Boulevard near the bridge that crosses Fish Creek.



“He got too close to the edge, and the rear wheels lost traction,” Stucker said. “The loader rolled backwards down the embankment.”

The tractor slid all the way to the bottom of the steep embankment without rolling over, Stucker said.



The front-end loader “stayed on its wheels, which is just amazing,” he said.

Stucker said the man was shaken but did not suffer serious injuries.

The man was taken to the local hospital where he was treated for injuries to his back and legs.

At the time of the accident, the man was one of many workers in the area improving the road that leads to the Sanctuary housing development.


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