CONOWINGO, Md. — A New York man is dead after his truck fell about 80 feet into the Conowingo Dam overnight Tuesday.
Maryland State Police said 53-year-old Luis Garcia was driving a tractor trailer filled with trash southbound on Route .
At around 1:30 a.m., as he was approaching the dam, he was unable to navigate the slight right turn at the northern side entrance and crashed into the wall.
State Police said Garcia's truck flipped all the way over the wall and fell 80 feet to the bottom of the dam.
The truck reportedly missed the water, and fell onto dry land, killing Garcia.
There was no damage to the dam, only a guardrail.
Route 1 was closed for five hours following the crash, for repairs.
In a statement, the dam's operator Exelon said, "Conowingo Dam managers and security personnel are working with first responders at the scene including the Maryland State Police. We are in the process of obtaining security video footage to provide to the Maryland State Police to assist their investigation. All Conowingo Dam personnel are safe and accounted for. There is no operational impact to the Conowingo Dam, however, as a precaution, a structural inspector is being brought in to verify there is no structural damage to the dam.
The State Police Crash team is now investigating what cause the truck to leave the road.
"The weather conditions, the medical history of the driver, was the truck in good mechanical shape? They'll have to look at all these different factors and it could take weeks really until they arrive at a conclusion as to what happened," said MSP Spokesperson Brenda Carl.
Anyone who saw the crash is asked to call the Maryland State Police North East Barrack at 410-996-7800, and reference case #19MSP050362.
