Fire crews, deputies respond to overturned semi-tractor hauling live hogs

POLO — Some hogs perished after a semi-tractor hauling a livestock trailer overturned on U.S. Route 52 northwest of Polo on May 6.

Ogle County sheriff’s deputies and Polo firefighters and ambulance personnel responded to the scene at 10:48 a.m. and found the semi-tractor and trailer on its side near the intersection with Robin Road.

Fire crews from Polo and Mt. Morris worked to free the hogs from the overturned trailer and put them into smaller trailers.

“There were 174 hogs in the trailer,” Polo Fire Chief Jim Ports said.

He said some of the hogs died, but he did not know how many.

An initial investigation determined the eastbound semi-tractor and livestock trailer failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway. The tractor/trailer combination entered the south ditch and overturned, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

The driver of the semi-tractor, Bryan Varney, 60, of Dows, Iowa, suffered minor injuries and was taken to OSF Saint Katherine Hospital by Polo EMS.

Varney was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and improper lane usage.