Law enforcement personnel face many dangers on the U.S. highway system, but few of them expect that death by semi truck will be among them.
Last Thursday a serious roadway accident with a tractor trailer almost crushed a U.S. Marshal. The accident happened around 4:00 p.m. on Tennessee’s Highway 43. Marshal David Wray, also a Sherriff’s Deputy in Maury County, was in his Ford Explorer when the cargo of cardboard inside a semi truck shifted unexpectedly and caused the truck to drift on the highway and start to flip over as it was merging onto the road. According to County Deputy Johns, “The driver just said the vehicle got heavy coming around this curve and got up on two wheels and come up overtop our vehicle here.”
The overturning trailer pinned Wray’s vehicle against another truck, completely crushing the front of Wray’s vehicle under the wreckage. Fortunately for Wray, the impact mostly went across the front and passenger sides of the vehicle, not the driver’s side. Wray and others were seen walking around the site of the wreck when emergency crews arrived to take charge of the situation. Wray was taken to Maury Regional Hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.
“He has some back problems, but nothing of any great severity as I just left the hospital and they explained it to me. They’re possibly going to keep him overnight for observation,” said another Maury County Deputy.
The truck had a substantial load of cardboard, and the highway remained closed for a number of hours as crews worked to get the supplies out of the vehicle. Crews had to get the cargo out of the truck in order to get it turned back over and cleared from the highway according to deputies on the scene.
The driver of the semi truck was not injured in the crash.
