A one-ton piece of raw steel was to blame for causing an 18-wheeler to overturn on the Interstate 10 bridge the night of June 4, 1985, sending the truck cab and its driver and passenger plunging into the Calcasieu River.

The South Carolina pair were identified as 51-year-old Lloyd L. Elsea and his 30-year-old son, Lloyd M. Elsea.

Lt. Gary Lemons of the Lake Charles City Police told the American Press the collar-shaped piece of raw steel found shortly after the accident came from an Overland Express truck transporting the steel from the Gulf Forge Co. of Houston to T.K. Valve Co. in Hammond. Its weight was estimated between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds.

“He (the driver of the steel truck) told his company there was a stalled vehicle on the bridge and he hit his breaks,” Lemons said. “The load shifted and the piece of steel came off, but (he thought) it went into the river. Then he continued on.”

The elder Elsea, who was driving the 18-wheeler when the accident occurred, told police he was driving down the eastbound lane of the bridge about 11 p.m. when he spotted the object in the roadway. He said he tried to avoid the object but his 18-wheeler struck the steel collar. He lost control of the truck and crashed into the railing, causing the trailer to overturn.

Lloyd L. Elsea was driving the truck while his son slept in the cab’s sleeper compartment. Both men were rescued after the truck landed in the river and were transported to St. Patrick Hospital for care. In an interview at the hospital, the elder Elsea said he never saw the collar-shaped piece of metal that caused his truck to lose control until it was too late.

“I hit a roll of metal or a chunk of metal, something laying up on the bridge. Then I lost control of it,” he told the American Press for its June 6, 1985, edition. “It was the size of a three bushel washing tub. I hit it with the right front wheel. It tried to get away from it but I couldn’t.”

Lemons said Elsea’s truck dragged the steel object 130 feet from the point of impact before the truck crashed into the bridge railing.

“The last thing I remember is the rail coming up through the windshield and then a big ball of fire exploded,” Elsea told the American Press. “I just knew I was dead.”

The truck cab fell about 70 feet with the Elseas inside into water less than 10-feet deep.

“The next thing I know I’m walking in the water hauling my son,” Elsea said. “I don’t remember hitting the water.”

The 18-wheeler had been heading east carrying a nine-ton load of cantaloupes. After it overturned, the diesel from the truck ignited. The Lake Charles Fire Department was called and put out the blaze.

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development officials told the American Press for its June 6, 1985, edition that the bridge is structurally OK. Repairs on the ornamental railing with crossed flintlock pistols was expected to being two months later, officials said.