After mishap, marijuana found in semi truck | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by M.J. Stafford Law enforcement are pictured Monday afternoon next to a semi tractor-trailer in the Walmart parking lot in Fredonia. Several containers were removed from the semi.

An investigation is continuing after some 750 pounds of marijuana was found in a tractor-trailer that was damaged when it struck an overpass on Interstate 90.

Around 9 a.m. Monday, the Fredonia police were called to the parking lot of Walmart on Bennett Road. The truck driver explained that during the early morning hours he was traveling on Interstate 90, when the top of his trailer struck an overpass, causing damage to the front of the trailer. He made his way to the Fredonia Walmart parking lot, where he called to report his accident.

Later in the morning, while parked at the lot, the driver climbed to the top of the trailer to investigate the degree of damage on his trailer. When doing so he observed the top of the trailer had been peeled back and within the trailer he observed what appeared to be a large amount of packaged marihuana. The driver contacted the police to report his findings. While climbing the exterior of the trailer the truck driver cut his hand, he was treated by Fredonia Fire and sent to Brooks-TLC for treatment of a laceration.

The Fredonia Police responded to the parking lot on Bennett Road and observed a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the trailer. Officers then viewed the contents of the trailer through the roof opening, observing a large quantity of marihuana in the trailer. Several totes had been damaged and marijuana was observed on top of the cargo.

The Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Agency were contacted and assisted by the Chautauqua County Sheriffás Department and the city of Dunkirk DPW, which used its high-lift truck during the unloading of the trailer.

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