Officials say the driver of a semitractor-trailer died after it collided with a crane hired to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Dallas.



Assistant City Manager Jon Fortune said the crane was headed to Lee Park when the collision happened near downtown Dallas Sunday night.



A city news release said that a witness said the crane was turning left on a green arrow. The release stated the semitractor-trailer's driver "was travelling...at a very high rate of speed and failed to yield the right of way, colliding into the crane."



Officials hoped to remove the statue immediately following the City Council's Wednesday vote to remove it. But several events led to delays, including trouble finding a crane.



Fortune said the accident badly damaged the crane.



The Dallas City Council voted 13-1 to remove the statue which has set atop Lee Park since being unveiled by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936.

