PORT ANGELES — It was a mess.
A garbage truck driver who apparently pressed the wrong button dumped a load of rubbish in front of Port Angeles High School on Friday.
A trail of garbage was strewn across Park Avenue between Chase and Lincoln streets, surprising students on their way to lunch.
“I thought he was going to stop,” said junior Nicole McGoff, who witnessed the incident from the school’s parking lot at about 11:30 a.m.
McGoff, 17, said the truck began dumping the garbage at the intersection of Chase Street and didn’t stop until it reached the end of the block.
“I didn’t know what he was thinking,” she said, astonished.
Port Angeles Police Officer Josh Powless said the driver of the DM Disposal truck meant to hit the button to close the back of the vehicle.
“When he was driving down the road, he realized that was not the button he hit,” Powless said.
“It was the dump button.”
Police blocked vehicle access to the area for about 11âÑ2 hours while about a dozen workers with DM Disposal, Olympic Disposal Inc., Murrey’s Olympic Disposal and Waste Connections Inc. hastily shoveled the garbage into trucks and bins.
Curious students looked on from the sidewalks as the men worked, taking pictures with their cell phones and snickering at the unusual scene.
The road was reopened at about 1 p.m. after a city of Port Angeles street sweeper finished collecting the remaining refuse.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.