Local food banks profit from crash that dumped 25,000 pounds of turkey

SAN RAMON, Calif. (KGO) -- An overturned big rig full of frozen turkeys caused a mess for morning commuters in San Ramon Wednesday and now two

The Alcosta Boulevard off-ramp along southbound Interstate 680 was closed for several hours as crews unloaded at least 25,000 pounds of frozen turkeys.

The driver, who is now okay, was on I-680 near San Ramon, hoping to take the transition to I-580.

The California Highway Patrol says the driver got confused, took the Alcosta Boulevard exit by mistake, and was going way too fast.

This incident occurred just after 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.

"It was dark and he wasn't familiar with the ramp. As he was coming around the curb, the rear trailer began to slide." CHP Sgt. Joseph Azevedo.

The turkeys were supposed to go to a wholesale distributor, not far from the scene of the crash, but once clean-up was complete, the delivery was re-routed to an Oakland food bank.

This afternoon, ABC 7 News was at the Alameda County Community Food Bank as the turkeys arrived.

"Today's experience, while it was really terrible for that driver, it was really great for the food banks in the East Bay," said Suzan Bateson, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Food Bank.

A representative from the Alameda County Public Health Department was on scene to inspect and said the turkeys were fine.

The food bank was able to work out a deal with Butterball to hand out those birds to local families this holiday season.

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