Updated at 4:56 p.m. CST Dec. 17

Once it was clear no one had been hurt in a one-vehicle accident Friday afternoon at the intersection of Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 30, the next question was obvious.

How do you get a truck out from underneath the interstate?

“I will honestly say this is the first time I’ve ever had to winch one out from underneath a bridge,” said David Kepley of Dave’s Auto and Truck Service, 205 E. 2nd St.

Capt. Gary Foster of the Story County Sheriff’s Office said John Vitiritto of Des Moines was trying to pull his straight truck on to westbound Highway 30 from northbound Interstate 35. Vitiritto had completed most of the clover-leaf turn when he apparently lost control of the truck, sending it off the right shoulder, through a ditch and then underneath the overpass before it fell on its left side.

A passer-by let Vitiritto, who was uninjured, out the back of the truck as police and fire officials arrived. Vitiritto was carrying a roll of carpet for the Des Moines company Concept to Market Services Inc.

Kepley and Tom Kepley arrived shortly thereafter and assessed the situation.

“The older I get, the more cautious I get,” David Kepley said. “You see a little bit of everything.”

The height of overpass was not sufficient to allow the towers to pull the truck upright immediately. A guardrail along Highway 30 made pulling the truck out there impractical.

What about going out the same way the truck came in?

“There was a culvert there that would prevent us,” Kepley said. “We couldn’t steer around that … He must have flown over that.”

Eventually, with a tow truck perched at the top of a ridge adjacent to the on ramp, the men used winch mechanisms to pivot the truck away from a support pole for the interstate. They then pulled the truck upright, scraping its already-damaged roof against the overpass, and aligned the truck to the north so it could travel straight uphill.

The Dave’s personnel used two trucks to finish the job, slowly pulling the truck out of danger and toward the road.

“We’ve winched them out of culverts and gravel pits,” Kepley said. “It never goes 100 percent like you think it’s going to.

“Every one of them is different. You never know until you get there.”