Tractor / Manure Spreader Crash

On Saturday around 10am, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a manure spreader that was overturned, in a ditch, on Cannon Road, south of County Highway A. There was no one around when the caller drove by. An investigating deputy arrived and the tractor and driver had returned. The deputy learned that 17 year old Ryan Shirk, of Stitzer, was driving a tractor with steel wheels pulling a manure spreader.  The tractor and spreader had been going downhill. The weight of the spreader/manure began to push the tractor down the hill. The tractor and spreader eventually began to jack knife. The right side wheels on the spreader struck the guardrail end which ended up between the wheels and the body. The spreader crossed over the concrete culvert, eventually leaving the road completely with the back end going downhill. The spreader rolled ¼ time, coming to rest on its right side, spilling the load of manure on the ground. The tractor had, at some point, become disconnected from the spreader during the incident and remained upright. Shirk was uninjured in the incident. B&M Towing of Bloomington removed the spreader from the ditch.