Trailer breaks, blocks street; driver arrested on drug charge

A routine delivery became a mess for a Georgia truck driver March 20 when the trailer he was hauling through Chester malfunctioned, twisted and came apart on a back street near the Gilster Mary-Lee factory.

Chester Police and a Randolph County Sherriff's Deputy were called to the scene of a minor truck accident at 1:16 p.m. at the corner of Swanwick and Light streets, between the Blazing Color building and the Arbeiter Law Office.

The truck was hauling a 53-foot trailer full of flour product, which was supposed to be delivered to the Gilster Mary-Lee Shredded Wheat Plant north of Chester. However, police said the driver apparently thought the load was to be delivered to the main Gilster plant in the center of Chester.

He was attempting to make a sharp right turn from Light Street onto Swanwick when the fully-loaded trailer twisted and came apart in the middle of the turn. The disabled truck and trailer blocked the intersection of Light and Swanwick streets for approximately six hours during the ordeal.

According to Chester Police Chief Ryan Coffey, when officers arrived to handle the accident scene, they noticed the driver, Wayne Wardlaw, 43, of Union, Georgia, was acting strange, which led officers to more closely interview Wardlaw and inspect the truck tractor.

Eventually, police brought in Chester's Drug Dog, Sabo, to search the truck, at which time Sabo indicated the presence of suspected illegal substances in the truck's cab. Wardlaw was placed under arrest for suspicion of possession of meth amphetamine.

A female passenger was questioned but released after the incident, police said.

The trailer being delivered was a rental from the company Talay Rental and was not a Gilster Mary-Lee truck. The driver apparently was lost when he was attempting to make the delivery to the main plant at Gilster Mary-Lee.

"Our staff helped to unload the trailer so it could be hauled off by a towing company," said Tom Welge, a Gilster Mary Lee executive. "The load was transferred to one of our trucks and delivered to the shredded wheat plant.

"Apparently the trailer being hauled by the delivery company was of poor construction and that, in addition to the heavy load which may have shifted, might have caused the trailer to break down," Welge added. "It literally twisted apart and broke open."

Coffey said the scene was cleared and roads reopened shortly after 6 p., m.

"It was a very unfortunate accident which created difficulty with traffic flow for several hours," Coffey said. "The arrest of the driver was secondary to the accident and the contracted delivery company was independent of Gilster Mary-Lee."