Toddler dies after overpass collapse

RICHLAND, Texas -- Truck driver Cleaster Broadway didn't have much time at home with his 19-month-old son, so he brought the toddler along on road trips when he could.

Their shared ride Sunday ended in tragedy after Broadway lost control of his tractor-trailer about 60 miles south of Dallas and slammed into a pillar that supported a highway bridge.

The column collapsed, toppling the overpass. Debris rained onto the truck's cab, killing the little boy and trapping his father for eight hours.

Broadway "hardly got a chance to see him because he's always on the road," Broadway's mother, Mildred Broadway, told The Dallas Morning News in its online edition. "He was trying to find a way to get out of it (trucking) so he wouldn't have to stay on the road so long. He's never had an accident before. I can't understand it."

Scott Huston, a Richland firefighter who arrived on the scene on Interstate 45 shortly after the accident, said the father and son were trapped within just a few feet of one another.

"He was asking about his son," Huston said. "He said he could touch him."

Huston said Broadway, 41, of Moro, Ark., knew Courtney was dead, and was unable to lift his son from the cab.

The little boy died before rescue workers could arrive.

Rescuers cut a hole out of the back of the truck cab to give Broadway, pinned by the roof of the truck, more room. A crane held up one side of the bridge, easing the threat the span of concrete would slide further.

"The problem was nothing was really stabilized," said Corsicana fire chief Donald McMullen. "There was so much wreckage around the truck, they had to cut and pry inch by inch."

The roads were wet, but rain wasn't falling at the time of the accident, Department of Public Safety spokesman Charlie Morgan said. Officials haven't yet determined the cause of the crash.

Broadway was in stable condition at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, nursing supervisor Barbara Miller said. His injuries were not life-threatening, she said.