A park dump truck laden with sand lost its brakes last Friday morning on the grade down Mount Angeles Road heading into Port Angeles. It crossed Park Avenue and Lauridsen Boulevard, passing school children waiting to cross the street, then turned onto its side at Night Street, skidding for a block before coming to a stop just short of the Eighth Street intersection. Witnesses praised driver Paul Duce for slowing the truck down as much as he could be dumping its load to reduce weight and lowering the blade of his snowplow onto the pavement. The blade appeared to catch the curb near Ninth Street, tipping the truck onto its side. Duce was treated and released from Olympic Medical Center; nobody else was hurt. According to news reports, at least a half dozen people told police that Duce should be given an award for his actions. Duce, a park employee since 1982 and a heavy equipment operator the past five-and-a-half years, spreads sand regularly on often-snowy Hurricane Ridge Road and removes rocks that have slipped to the pavement. He was on his way back from that duty when he discovered his brakes didn't work. He called 911 to tell Port Angeles police he couldn't stop the truck. When he saw cars waiting at the traffic light at Race and Eighth streets, he knew he'd have to tip the truck. Park spokesperson Barb Maynes quoted him as saying, "I wasn't going to run into the back of those people without doing something to try to stop." David Goldstein of Port Angeles was driving his car directly in front of Duce's truck. "I looked back in my mirror. It was rather unsettling to see sparks from his plow blade," Goldstein told police. "He probably saved my life. His quick thinking and actions probably saved my life and those of others.”
