3 injured after crane topples over onto vehicle in southwest Bexar County, shutting down traffic on I-35

SAN ANTONIO – A utility crane fell on a moving vehicle Monday morning in southwest Bexar County, injuring two women in the vehicle and a TxDOT worker.

According to Von Ormy Police Chief Lionel Perez, a TxDOT bucket truck was doing some work on a grassy median on Interstate 35 near Benton City Road around 11 a.m., when a worker tried to adjust the bucket truck. Moments later, the crane came crashing down on a sport utility vehicle headed northbound on the interstate.

The crane landed on the vehicle’s hood, narrowly missing the roof, Perez said.

Two women in their 30s in the vehicle were transported to a hospital with minor injuries. The worker, a man in his 60s, also sustained minor injuries and was taken to a hospital.

Perez said the injuries could have been life-threatening had the crane fallen a second or two later.

“That’s what you call luck. I believe if the bucket truck didn’t land where it landed, it would have landed on top of the roof of the vehicle. We’d be looking at a total different situation right now,” he said.

There was no immediate word of what caused the bucket truck to topple over, but it may have been situated on an uneven grassy surface.

A TxDOT spokesman released the following statement in regards to the crash:

Just before 11 a.m. on Monday, April 1, there was an incident involving a TxDOT box truck with crane and a private vehicle on I-35 near Benton City Road. I-35 mainlanes are expected to be closed for the next 2 to 3 hours for clean-up operations. This incident remains under investigation and no additional information is available at this time.

The interstate was reopened to traffic around 3:45 p.m.

Drivers were being forced to take exit 141 to go around the crash.