When two men appeared Monday morning at the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in the Englewood community and offered a 20-pound package of free meat, Pastor Edward Clark politely declined.
“They said they’d gotten it off the truck last night,” said Clark, whose church is at 7101 S. Union Ave. “But I told them I couldn’t accept it.”
The meat had been pulled by passersby from a semitrailer truck that slammed into a viaduct and split open Sunday night, police said. Authorities reported seeing people grabbing large sections of the beef from the street and dragging it away.
Clark said the men told him the sections of beef were so large and heavy, it took two men to handle.
Health officials cautioned the meat may have been contaminated by exposure to chemicals, including freon, diesel fuel and accident debris, like glass, during the crash.
Clark told the men of the dangers and advised them to discard it. “They said they were going to put it in the garbage,” Clark said. “Whether they did or not, I don’t know.”
The Tennessee-based truck was westbound in the 600 block of West 71st Street when it struck an overpass, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Patrice Harper.
Harper said the viaduct sign that lists the clearance may have been obscured by pipes and brush. Police would not identify the driver because he was not ticketed.
Matt Martin, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health, advised anyone against eating meat that has been thrown from a vehicle during a traffic accident, whether or not it appears to have been tainted.
