A cement truck tumbled over the side of a Hollywood Hills cliff Tuesday with the driver still inside. A tow truck has been trying to remove the truck from the hillside. The driver is expected to be OK. Kim Baldonado reports from the Hollywood Hills for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25, 2014.
The driver of a cement truck maneuvered himself to safety Tuesday afternoon after the truck went off the side of a steep Hollywood Hills road that crumbled beneath him.
Firefighters received a call just before 1 p.m. about a rescue needed in the 1800 block of North Crescent Heights Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Aerial video showed the cement truck ripped apart and laying on the dirt in the Hollywood Hills, just above West Hollywood.
The truck was en route to a city project to build a retaining wall in the area when it was driving on a small access road made available to construction workers by a homeowner.
As the truck was backing onto the access road, the ground gave way and crumbled beneath him, sending the cement truck down the side of a mountain.
The driver, trapped on the hillside, was able to get out of the cabin on his own without the help of rescue efforts, and firefighters at the scene told NBC4 he was lucky to be alive.
"Fortunately for him, he was able to actually get out of the rig himself and walk up with the help of firefighters to go to the hospital," LAFD Battalion Chief David Frelinger said.
A homeowner told NBC4 she could hear someone yelling for help, but all she saw when she looked over her balcony was a plume of dirt kicked up by the truck.
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Crews were still working to remove the truck Tuesday evening, hours after the crash.
The cement container could be seen at the bottom of the hill right next to a home, cement pouring onto the dirt. The drum rolled far enough to cause minor damage to the home, which has been empty for at least seven years, officials said.
The driver's boss told NBC4 the driver was doing fine and escaped the wreck with only minor injuries.
Research by the NBC4 I-Team found that CEMEX has good driver safety and vehicle maintenance records.
