A pickup truck collided with a semi-truck on eastbound Interstate 80 in Placer County, flipping onto its roof and trapping the driver inside as emergency crews worked to free him and traffic backed up for hours. The California Highway Patrol said the crash blocked lanes and left the male driver with suspected major injuries, while a female passenger suffered what were described as apparently minor injuries.
According to the Sacramento Bee, CHP reported the collision just east of Newcastle Road at about 1:49 p.m. on Sunday. CBS Sacramento, however, placed the crash near Penryn Road, leaving the precise location in dispute between the two outlets' accounts.
Preliminary CHP information indicates the driver of a gray Chevrolet Silverado made an unsafe turning movement and struck the front tire of the semi-truck, the Sacramento Bee reported. The impact sent the Silverado off the roadway and up an embankment, where it overturned onto its roof and came to rest in the third lane, per the same CBS Sacramento account.
Driver Pulled From Overturned Truck
The male driver was trapped inside the Silverado and had to be extricated by emergency responders, CBS Sacramento reported. He suffered major injuries according to CHP, while a female passenger in the vehicle suffered apparently minor injuries. Mike Hamilton, a spokesperson for CHP's Auburn office, provided preliminary crash details and injury information to the Sacramento Bee.
Emergency crews responded to the scene, and CHP requested a tow truck to assist with removing the overturned pickup, according to the Sacramento Bee's reporting. The circumstances leading up to the crash remain under investigation, CBS Sacramento noted, and no cause has been finalized.
No Timeline for Reopening Lanes
Caltrans had not provided an estimated time for the blocked lanes to reopen, according to KCRA, which reported there was no estimated time of reopening as of its update. Motorists were encouraged to use alternate routes, expect delays and exercise caution while crews worked the scene, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The stretch of I-80 near Newcastle has seen serious wrecks before. A prior crash involving seven vehicles, including a Dodge pickup, a bus, a Toyota Prius, a GMC 1500, a Chevy Silverado, a Kia and a Toyota Rav4, left one person dead after the Dodge driver allegedly made an unsafe lane change that caused his truck to strike a bus in the adjacent lane, according to CBS Sacramento. That driver, identified by CHP only as a 61-year-old man from Meadow Vista pending notification of next of kin, was pronounced dead at the scene, while drivers of the other vehicles suffered only minor injuries. That crash closed the eastbound No. 1 lane for two hours and shut down all westbound lanes for four hours, the same report noted.
