8.7 C
New York

“I’m sorry for your loss” sympathizes truck driver who collided with wrong-way motorist in fatal accident

Published:

Two people are dead and a truck driver, deeply affected, after a fatal wrong-way collision sent a car and semi truck tumbling down an embankment early on sunday morning. 

The accident happened on January 10th at around 1 a.m. near Indianapolis, Indiana. 

According to ABC 8, the semi truck was traveling east on Interstate 70  near the Holt Road exit when it collided head-on with a car traveling the wrong direction on the interstate. 

“A guy sort of comes around the corner traveling at such a high rate of speed. I don’t even have time to blink my lights or anything. Not even blow my air horn,” said truck driver Ricky Stroud of the incident to Fox 59.

The force of the collision sent both vehicles rolling down a nearby embankment, where the rig landed on top of the car, crushing the people inside. 

 “I remember the tractor-trailer pulling a hard right, going over the embankment and I told my dog again to ‘hang on’ and in a split second I was like – ‘God, help me’,” Stroud continued. 

The semi truck crashed into a tree before coming to a stop, sending Stroud’s dog, Dolly,  into the windshield and lodging him between his steering wheel and the rest of the rig. 

“When I looked around – everything that I owned was right by my head. My cab had been smashed like a Coke can,” said Stroud, who miraculously escaped the incident with only minor injuries. 

The smashed vehicles then burst into flames, engulfing all of Stroud’s personal belongings. He even left the site of the crash barefoot, and without one of his most cherished possessions. 

“I’ve got a video of my grandma singing happy birthday to me that was on my laptop. She died of breast cancer – and now that video is gone forever,” said Stroud.

The “extended blaze” took firefighters quite some time to extinguish, but no property was damaged in the fire. Police say that the truck was hauling fireworks, which contributed to the fire, but Stroud claims he was hauling candy. 

Officers are still investigating the incident. 

“I am sorry for your loss – and I don’t know why he was on the wrong side of the road on the interstate,” Stroud said to the family in an interview. 

He says he hopes to meet the family of the deceased motorists in-person near their home in Virginia, so he can offer his condolences face-to-face.

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

Get the hottest daily trucking news

This Week in Trucking

Videos