Accidents keep MHP, clean up crews busy
Published 5:00 am Friday, July 18, 2003
Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers and wrecker serviceemployees continued clean-up activities Friday morning followingtwo separate double-trailer truck accidents in a construction zoneThursday night on Interstate 55 South.
MHP officials reported three accidents in all Thursday and earlyFriday near mile marker 35 on Interstate 55 South, and one accidentnear mile marker 33 on the northbound side of the interstate.
Napping wrecker service workers, who had been at the mile marker35 scene all night, prompted a rash of calls to The DAILY LEADERthis morning. Callers were concerned that medical help had not yetreached what they thought were injured men.
The latest accident happened around 1:13 a.m. Friday when aneighteen wheeler, driven by Kenneth Denton, of Beebe, Ark., crashedalong the one-lane southbound section of road.
Trooper Josh Leggett said Denton’s truck, carrying a variety ofitems, appeared to have hit an uneven section of pavement. Thetruck jackknifed and hit several trees before stopping in themedian.
“It flipped, probably, two times or so,” Leggett said.
Denton was taken to King’s Daughters Medical Center and thentransferred to the University Medical Center in Jackson.Information on his condition was unavailable.
Debris was strewn along the truck’s path to its stopping point.By 9:30 a.m. Friday, the truck’s cab and one of its two demolishedtrailers had been removed from the scene.
The early Friday morning mishap followed two other accidents inthe same area along the interstate.
One accident with injuries was reported at 4:53 p.m. Thursdaynear mile marker 35 in the southbound lane. Additional informationon that mishap was unavailable.
At 9:38 p.m., troopers responded to an accident involving a UPStruck carrying a double trailer.
Leggett, who also worked that accident, said the second trailerflipped after a wheel apparently hit an uneven section of the road.There were no injuries in that accident.
Also Thursday, troopers responded to an accident near milemarker 33 on Interstate 55 north. There were no injuriesreported.