Two people are dead after a chain-reaction crash tangled three vehicles on northbound Interstate 270 in South St. Louis County early Thursday, after a dump truck struck a pickup that had stopped because of an earlier wreck. The Ram 1500 driver, 32, died at Mercy Hospital South, while the Western Star driver, 58, died at the scene, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
According to stltoday.com, the Ram 1500 driver was from St. Louis and the Western Star driver was from Bonne Terre. The patrol has not released either driver's name. As reported by the outlet, investigators say the Western Star driver did not see the pickup and a trash truck stopped ahead on the highway after those two vehicles had already been involved in an earlier crash — the Western Star then struck the pickup, which was pushed into the trash truck.
The crash follows another fatal collision on northbound I-270 in the county with a similar sequence. On Sept. 21, a semitruck struck a pickup that had stalled in the lanes after an earlier crash, killing the pickup’s 42-year-old driver, a Missouri Highway Patrol account reported. The September crash happened near Gravois Road, south of the I-44 interchange, rather than at Thursday’s crash site near Tesson Ferry Road.
Earlier Wreck Left Vehicles Stranded in Traffic
The sequence began when a Ram 1500 and a Peterbilt 520 came to a stop in the third lane of northbound I-270 following an earlier collision, according to KTTN. The Peterbilt was positioned ahead of the Ram when a 2015 Western Star 4900 dump truck approached from behind both vehicles, per the same account.
Highway Patrol investigators say the Western Star driver failed to see the disabled vehicles stopped in the roadway and steered to the right in an attempt to avoid them, KTTN reports. The dump truck's front left struck the right rear of the Ram 1500, pushing it into the Peterbilt and forcing the big rig left into a concrete barrier, according to the outlet's account of the investigation.
One Driver Died at the Scene, the Other at a Hospital
The Western Star driver, identified in KTTN's reporting as a 58-year-old from Bonne Terre, Missouri, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:38 a.m. Thursday, according to the Mehlville Fire Protection District. The Ram 1500 driver, a 32-year-old from St. Louis, was transported to Mercy Hospital South by the fire district and was pronounced dead there at 3:13 p.m. Thursday, per KTTN.
KTTN's report states that the Ram 1500 driver was wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision, according to the Highway Patrol, while seat belt use for the Western Star driver was listed as unknown.
Missouri’s “Steer It, Clear It” rule says drivers involved in a crash must make every reasonable effort to move a vehicle to the shoulder when there are no apparent serious injuries or deaths and the vehicle is safe to drive, MoDOT explains. The account of Thursday’s earlier collision does not establish whether those conditions applied to the stopped vehicles, so the rule alone does not show whether they could or should have been moved before the fatal impact.
Wreckage and Investigation
Both the Western Star dump truck and the Ram 1500 were declared total losses, according to KTTN, while the Peterbilt sustained moderate damage. The Western Star and Ram 1500 were removed from the scene by Miner's Towing, and the Peterbilt was removed by Fastlane Towing, per the outlet's reporting.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Major Crash Investigation Unit investigated the fatal collision, with Sergeant M.G. Autenrieth and Sergeant M.A. Frigy leading the inquiry with assistance from additional patrol personnel, according to KTTN. A separate account places the crash near northbound I-270 at Tesson Ferry Road, though that timing detail comes from lower-confidence reporting and has not been independently confirmed.
