52-year-old man killed when cab of semi truck goes over side of Valley View Bridge

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Valley View Bridge crash - looking up_20110222134445_JPG

This photo looking up at the Valley View Bridge from NewsChannel5 viewer David Wolfe shows where the cab of a semi broke through a fence before falling.

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Posted: 02/22/2011

By: NewsChannel5 Staff

VALLEY VIEW, Ohio - One person was killed after the cab of a semi truck went over the side of the Valley View Bridge in Valley View Tuesday morning.

The accident happened just before 11 a.m. Tuesday in the downward sloping westbound lanes of the bridge just before the Independence border.

"It appears that perhaps the driver was trying to slow down in the flow of traffic and the trailer jackknifed behind the cab," said Valley View Police Chief Glenn Dugas, "[the trailer] came around and basically sheared the cab off of the frame sending it over the wall."

The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office confirmed there's been one fatality in the crash -- the driver of the truck . He has been identified as 52-year-old Larry Cunningham of Cleveland.

Cunningham's cousin, Tony Gray, told NewsChannel5 the victim worked for Gray Container, which is based in Cleveland, Gray said Cunningham had been with GC for 32 years and was an excellent driver.

Many of those who saw the accident weren't really sure what had happened. "We have witnesses that indicated they ran to try to check out the driver and when they got there they realized that the cab had been sheared off."

The Valley View Bridge is more than 200 feet high at it's highest point. It opened in 1976.

Chief Dugas recalled a car going off the bridge in 1996 after a collision killing the driver . He also said there was an accident involving a tractor-trailer a number of years ago. That was in 1997.

"I believe it was the same thing westbound it went over the bridge and was literally suspended over the bridge," he said recalling how they were able to rescue the driver of that rig out of the dangling cab.