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Traffic stops along Interstate 95 yesterday morning as crews work to remove debris from a truck accident near Centrepoint Parkway in Stafford County. By early afternoon all lanes were open, but traffic was still backed up. |
An overturned tractor trailer on Interstate 95 yesterday morning left the driver injured and in jail, and hundreds of commuters in a pickle.
Traffic was stuck in a four-mile stop, with motorists smelling a lingering waft of pickles from the truck's contents strewn across the highway at exit 136.
Sgt. F.L. Tyler of the state police said the driver, Van Kimball Lewis, 35, was charged with driving under the influence of drugs, namely PCP, after he fought rescue workers and police officers who tried to get him out of the cab, where he was pinned in the overturned truck.
He was also charged with possession of a controlled substance, three counts of assault on a police officer and one count of aggressive driving.
Tyler said the crash happened about 10:15 a.m. when the truck was traveling at a high rate of speed southbound down a hill in the left lane of I-95.
It came up close to a Honda Civic and veered left on the shoulder, sideswiping the car and hitting the guardrail. The truck turned onto its side, spilling "bottled condiments" such as pickles and jalapeño peppers, Tyler said.
Lewis, who was traveling from Delaware to Alabama, was taken to Mary Washington Hospital for treatment and then released into police custody, where he was subsequently charged. He is being held at Rappahannock Regional Jail, Tyler said.
The driver of the Civic, a 33-year-old Stafford woman was not injured, he said.
Tina Bundy, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said I-95 southbound lanes were closed for about an hour following the incident. Traffic was slow moving after the accident was cleared at about 11:20 a.m.
Bundy said the road was not damaged from the crash.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424