MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A truck
dripping rancid juices from thousands of pounds of rotting chicken sat in the
heat attracting flies Thursday at a western Montana truck stop, where an Idaho
trucking company employee abandoned it.
The driver left the trailer
containing approximately 37,000 pounds of frozen chicken near the Flying J
Truck Stop west of Missoula after the company refused his requests for more
money, authorities said. The chicken was worth $80,000.
The truck was discovered Tuesday. It
may have been left there more than a month ago, Nampa, Idaho, police Sgt. Joe
Ramirez said.
Law enforcement officers are
searching for the driver, 42-year-old Christopher L. Hall, who had been wanted
for a parole violation and now faces a possible theft charge, Ramirez said.
Hall picked up the trailer in
Springdale, Arkansas, on Aug. 20 and was supposed to deliver it to Kent,
Washington, the next day. Hall reportedly texted Dixie River
Freight Inc. several times, saying he needed more money. When the company
refused to pay him until he delivered the load, he apparently abandoned the
trailer at the truck stop, according to police in Nampa.
The trailer's refrigerator
apparently continued running until the fuel ran out, Ramirez said.
On Thursday, the trailer was
surrounded by sawhorses, crime-scene tape and flies at the truck stop as
temperatures threatened to reach the 90-degree range for a second straight day.
Alisha Johnson with the Missoula
City-County Health Department said Dixie River's insurance company was in
charge of cleaning up the mess — and it's not a simple job. It involves getting the landfill
prepared to receive the load, Johnson told the Missoulian on Thursday.
"They'll probably have to dig a separate hole for this."
"There's a possibility of
re-freezing the trailer, but that could make it harder to off-load if it's
frozen together," she said.
Shannon Therriault, environmental
health supervisor with the health department, said it would be nice to be able
move it just once.
"People don't want rotting
chicken juice all over their cars if it's transported down the highway or down
the roadway," Therriault told KECI-TV. "There are things that are in
raw chicken that can make you sick, and we don't want someone to incidentally
get it on their hands and then ingest it."
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