A car crashed and became trapped beneath a semi-truck on Interstate 40 near East MLK Avenue in Oklahoma City Sunday morning, leaving one person in critical condition after firefighters had to extricate them from the wreckage. The crash drew a heavy emergency response and shut down part of the busy freight corridor while crews worked to free the trapped person.
According to KFOR, both the Oklahoma City Fire Department and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol responded to the scene near eastbound I-40 westbound and MLK Avenue. Authorities on scene say the car crashed and became trapped beneath the semi-truck, and fire crews extricated one person from the vehicle before rushing them to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
The crash remains under further investigation, and the outlet's report notes it will be updated as more information becomes available. No additional details on the vehicles' speeds, the drivers involved, or what led to the collision have been released.
A Dangerous Stretch of Highway
Four calendar days before Sunday's crash, a 26-year-old driver died after traveling the wrong way on westbound I-40 near Magnolia, North Carolina, and colliding with two tractor-trailers, a collision previously reported by Hoodline that closed westbound lanes for hours. A Seminole teenager was also killed after crossing the I-40 median in another Oklahoma City crash just days before that.
Interstate 40 is the longest interstate in Oklahoma, stretching 331 miles across 13 counties and serving as a heavily traveled commercial freight corridor through the Oklahoma City metro, according to Wikipedia.
A Car Trapped Beneath a Semi-Truck
In Sunday's crash, one person was critically injured after a car became trapped beneath a semi-truck.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that large truck underride crashes caused an average of 219 fatalities annually between 2008 and 2017, though the report cautioned that national counts are likely underestimated because police crash report forms in many states lack dedicated check boxes to document underride impacts. More recent data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that 5,340 people died in large truck crashes in 2024, with car and passenger vehicle occupants accounting for 62% of those deaths — a disparity the institute attributes to the fact that commercial tractor-trailers can weigh up to 30 times more than passenger cars and sit far higher off the ground.
Oklahoma's Broader Traffic Safety Picture
The crash comes against a backdrop of concerning statewide numbers. A September study by transportation research group TRIP found Oklahoma ranks among the top 10 states nationally for traffic fatality rates, with a death rate 19% higher than the national average, according to KOKH FOX 25; the study evaluated five years of crash data and pointed to excessive speed, driver distraction, and road design as key contributors.
National federal crash data cited by FreightWaves showed 5,936 people were killed and 160,608 injured in accidents involving medium and heavy-duty trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds in 2022 alone.
No cause has been determined for Sunday's crash, and investigators have not released information on speeds, impairment, or distraction. KFOR's report says the crash scene remains under further investigation and that the outlet will update its coverage as more information arrives.
