A Potelco Inc. employee lost control of a backhoe today while backing down the Green River trail in the 20000 block of 58th Avenue S.E. and both the backhoe and the driver went down the steep embankment into the river.

A call to 911 was placed at about 2 p.m.

It is not clear if the backhoe rolled down the hillside upright. Fortunately, the driver was able to escape the river and climb the 40 to 50 feet back to the top where he contacted other employees and reported the incident. He was not injured by the fall and no other employees witnessed what happened.

It took two large tow trucks over an hour to return the backhoe to the 8-foot wide paved trail that runs along the Green River’s east bank.

The Kent Fire Department Surface Water Rescue Team provided assistance in attaching the heavy cables from the tow trucks to the backhoe and had a boat and other firefighters ready as the backhoe was pulled up. As a precaution, the Green River trail was temporarily closed at the incident site and foot/bike traffic rerouted.

Potelco was working on the trail installing a power or light pole when the incident took place. According to a Potelco supervisor, the experienced backhoe driver was following company standard operating procedures while backing down the trail.