Trucker Arrested For Vehicular Manslaughter After I-80 Pileup, One More Dead

New details are emerging after yesterday’s 60 vehicle pile-up on Wyoming’s I-80.

One more person has been confirmed dead a day after the fiery pileup that shut down I-80 for the second time in just three days, bringing the total to two fatalities. The latest count on the number of people injured is over two dozen.

Forty-five-year-old Canadian trucker Alex Dragaytsev has been detained on suspicion of aggravated vehicular homicide. Highway Patrol Sgt. David Wagener declined to go into any detail about the charge.

The tanker truck carrying Butyl Cellosolve caught fire during the pile-up but does not appear to have leaked.

I-80 is an important trucking corridor, carrying around 6000 trucks every day, which puts pressure on Wyoming crews to get I-80 completely reopened. Eastbound lanes reopened around 11:30 last night. They hope to have westbound lanes reopened sometime today. Engineers are currently assessing the damage that the fire caused the road. Wyoming officials hope to reopen a 100-mile stretch of I-80 today. Wreckage was still being removed from the road as of this morning.

Sources:
Star Tribune
CBC News
UT San Diego
Jordana Marie