Date: 09/02/2011
Time: Around 2:45 A.M.
Location: Lower Salford Township, Pennsylvania
Vehicle(s) Involved: Semi truck, Nissan Sentra, Chevy Malibu
By Bradley Schlegel - bschlegel@journalregister.com
"LOWER SALFORD — Police are still investigating an early Friday morning accident that killed one person.
The northbound lane of the Turnpike’s Northeast Extension was closed for several hours following the fatal crash involving a tanker truck.
The crash occurred at 2:25 a.m. in the northbound lanes between the Lansdale and Quakertown exits, according to information provided by the state police.
Two accidents actually occurred at milepost A31.5 of the turnpike, according to Trooper Kevin Rathman, stationed with Troop T at the King of Prussia barracks.
In the fatal crash, a 2007 Nissan Sentra rear-ended a 1992 Peterbilt tractor-trailer driven by Hervin Grey, while both vehicles were traveling in the right lane, according to police.
The Sentra, which was traveling at a high rate of speed, spun counter-clockwise in a northwesterly direction and came to rest in the left lane facing south, police said.
The Sentra absorbed heavy front-end damage. Authorities were not releasing the name of the vehicle’s driver.
Rathman said the state police did not have any information on the other accident involving a white Chevrolet sedan.
At the scene after the accidents, it appeared that the tractor-trailer had hit that vehicle from behind. Both came to rest along the highway’s shoulder.
Firefighters helped to extricate one person from the Sentra, according to Dean Miller, chief of the Towamencin Volunteer Fire Company.
Miller said three people suffered injuries in the incident.
“It’s pretty significant,” he said Friday morning.
The turnpike’s northbound lane reopened at 11:15 a.m., according to a trooper at the state police’s King of Prussia barracks.
Towamencin’s firefighters received the call to respond to a single-vehicle accident on the turnpike north of the Lansdale Interchange.
According to Miller, they arrived at the scene to find the Sentra — resting in the left lane — facing south.
He also said they discovered the tanker truck that had collided with the white car.
Firefighters assisted one victim who was out of his vehicle on the highway, according to the chief. He said another, resting on the grassy shoulder, had suffered a leg fracture.
Two medical helicopters prepared to take victims to hospitals, according to Miller.
North Penn Goodwill Service member Jim Hange said he was dispatched after 4:40 a.m. and got to the scene around 5 a.m.
The Goodwill Service provides food and other services to emergency personnel.
“There are going to be a lot of missed deliveries and missed appointments today,” said Hange, a Sellersville resident, referring to the closed turnpike and traffic backups.
Firefighters from Towamencin and Tylersport, as well the Harleysville EMS and Lansdale VMSC responded to the incident."
