WELLSBURG — City Police investigating an accident that led a tractor-trailer to crash into the Ohio River Friday morning believe brake failure was the cause and have confirmed the name of the driver.

City Police Chief Mike Allman said, “Initial indications are he lost his brakes on Washington Pike (state Route 27) coming downhill toward (state) Route 2.”

Allman confirmed the driver was 62-year-old Gerald Davis Jr., who possessed a Texas commercial driver’s license.

Brooke County officials earlier reported the driver was pronounced dead after being extricated by divers from his cab which, with its trailer and load, sunk beneath the river’s surface near 10th Street.

Allman said a special permit allowed the truck to weigh 193,000 pounds and stand 15 feet high.

He confirmed the weight and height are above the usual limits and the reason the truck was accompanied by escort vehicles.

Allman said an escort driver behind the truck said he radioed Davis to tell him smoke was emanating from it, while the driver of the escort vehicle in front pulled to the side and away from the truck’s path.

He said the truck continued at a high rate of speed through the intersections of Route 2 and Charles and Main streets.

“He managed to control it through those intersections,” said Allman, who noted it’s fortunate there were no vehicles or pedestrians directly in the truck’s path.

He said the truck continued down the access road north of the rear parking lot of the Brooke County Public Library before veering into the river.

Library staff said the truck struck a tree along the river’s bank before it landed in the water.

Greg Moore, Brooke County director of emergency management, said about a dozen divers from Weirton, Wheeling, North Strabane Township, Pa., and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources were involved in the rescue effort.

Multiple police, fire and emergency medical departments also were at the scene of the accident, which occurred at about 9:14 a.m.

Allman said the the truck was carrying materials and equipment from a natural gas operation in Smithton, Pa., and was bound for St. Johns Road, Colliers.

Gladiator Energy, the truck’s owner, arranged for the truck to be towed from the river on Saturday morning.