Washington State Patrol (WSP) released the details regarding the cause of yesterday’s semi-truck and trailer rollover crash on northbound I-5.
WSP Trooper Heather Axtman said 911 call-receivers had received multiple calls before the crash reporting a semi-truck being driven erratically on northbound I-5 through the Bellingham area. According to a press memo from WSP, when the semi-truck and trailer approached the Slater Road interchange at about 6:40am, it swerved into the area between the northbound lanes and the off-ramp, striking the exit sign at the end of the gore point as it returned to the northbound lanes. It was just beyond that point that it rolled onto the driver’s side just south of the Slater Road overpass.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash Axtman said.
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Click for more informationThe driver, identified by WSP as Kawaltasbir Singh, age 29, of San Mateo, California, was transported to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries and then booked into the Whatcom County Jail by WSP later in the afternoon charged with driving under the influence (DUI) and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
All northbound traffic on I-5 was detoured around the crash site via the Slater Road interchange for nearly 8 hours while the vegetables in the semi-truck’s 53-foot trailer could be transferred to another semi-truck and trailer and the crashed semi-truck and trailer righted and removed. Northbound I-5 traffic was backed up for 3 miles behind the crash site until the lanes were reopened around 2:45pm.
According to jail records, Singh remained in custody as of this morning.