WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A Department of Public Works employee was treated and released from the hospital Sunday morning after his snow plow went off the road and down an embankment in South Williamstown, police said Sunday afternoon.

 

At about 1:30 Sunday morning, Robert Sweet radioed the garage foreman to tell him he was off the roadway on Roaring Brook Road, Police Lt. Michael Ziemba said.

 

Police, firefighters, Northern Berkshire Emergency Medical Service and another DPW employee arrived to find Sweet trapped upside down inside the cab of his truck down a 15-foot embankment and in a pool of water about 3 feet deep, Ziemba said.

 

"Officers and the DPW employee extricated Sweet from the water and the truck to the river's edge," Ziemba said. "EMS and Fire arrived and stabilized Sweet before performing a rope rescue to bring him up the banking."

 

Sweet was transported to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, where he was treated and released, Ziemba said.

 

Massachusetts State Police and New Ashford Fire and Hancock Fire departments also responded to the scene. The accident happened in the middle of a snowstorm that dropped 3 to 10 inches across the Berkshires.

 

Ziemba said the truck, plow and sander, which were removed by Village Truck Sales of Lanesborough, likely are a total loss.

 

The accident is under investigation by the Williamstown Police Department.