Near collision on icy highway leaves truck dangling from Lake Britton Bridge

December 5, 2021 Trevor Montgomery

BURNEY, Calif., — No injuries were reported when the driver of a pickup truck swerved to avoid a collision with another vehicle and lost control on an icy section of SR-89 near Lake Britton early Friday morning, Dec. 3.

The accident, which happened at the Lake Britton Bridge northeast of Burney, left the pickup truck dangling precariously from the bridge, with the truck hung up on a damaged guardrail that kept the vehicle from plummeting into the lake below.

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California Highway Patrol, Shasta County Sheriff’s Department, and other emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene around 2:30 a.m., according to a CHP incident log.

Swerving to avoid another vehicle, a pickup truck slid on an ice-covered section of Highway 89 and crashed through a guardrail over Lake Britton. The involved truck sustained heavy front-end damage and was totaled. Scotty Woodward photos

When officials arrived they found a Ford work truck that had crashed into the guardrail over Lake Britton. The accident caused serious damage to a section of the guardrail and the truck, which sustained heavy front-end damage, was later towed from the scene.

The driver, a life-long Burney local, was found uninjured at the scene and has since told SCNS he had been traveling to work when his pickup truck was cut off by another vehicle as the vehicles approached a curve in the highway.

Swerving to avoid a collision, the driver said his truck began to slide on the icy section of highway, causing his vehicle to careen into and through a guardrail, leaving the truck’s front tires dangling off the bridge and over the lake.

The other involved vehicle did not remain at the scene and the driver has not been identified, according to CHP.

CHP has said that neither alcohol nor drug intoxication were contributing factors in the solo-vehicle accident and their investigation is continuing.

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Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).

Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.