GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – East Beltline Towing of Grand Rapids had a consistent workload much of Wednesday.
“We’ve been pretty busy. I’ve been up since about 6:00 this morning,” Erik Dedenbach, with East Beltline Towing said.
He said he responded to numerous calls regarding slide-offs and accidents around Kent County.
FOX 17 ran into him in Ada Township on a job. He hooked two vehicles on his flat-bed truck. They’d lost control sliding down a hill at Honey Creek and Pettis Avenue Northeast.
The intersection was shut down, which forced residents to park and walk home.
Dedenbach said a third vehicle slammed into a patrol car. That vehicle had also lost control coming down the hill at Honey Creek.
“Unfortunately, the police officer made every effort he could to get out of the way, but the car came right down and struck him. I mean, he’s ok and everything like that,” Dedenbach said.
He added, “I don’t know how he didn’t see our lights, my lights, the firetrucks lights, but he just came right down the hill and ‘pop’.”
That driver got a ticket.
Soon after, a truck from the Kent County Road Commission showed up to pour salt on the hill and made extra effort to keep control of his own vehicle.
Although the intersection had a fair amount of action for the evening, Dedenbach said the day at that point was on the mild end.
“This isn’t that busy right now. There will be a point there our dispatch will have maybe, 15, 20 calls deep because everybody all at the same time wants something,” Dedenbach said.
The Kent County Road Commission said 30 trucks were out Wednesday night. Main roads took priority for salting and plowing. Side streets and back roads came second.
