Northbound I

NATURE JUST YET. ALL RIGHT, BRANDON. BUT WE DO START THIS NOON WITH BREAKING NEWS OF A DEADLY CRASH WHERE TWO SEMITRUCKS COLLIDED ON A MAJOR FREEWAY. GOOD AFTERNOON AND THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. RIGHT NOW THAT CRASH HAS THE STRETCH OF I-75 IN MONROE COUNTY SHUT DOWN. LOCAL 4'S EVROD CASSIMY JOINS US NOW IN THE NEWSROOM. HE HAS BEEN FOLLOWING THIS STORY FOR US. WHAT'S THE LATEST EVROD? Reporter: RHONDA, I CAN TELL YOU THIS HAPPENED WITHIN JUST THE PAST FEW HOURS. THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED ON THE NORTHBOUND LANES OF I-75 THIS WAS AT DUNBAR ROAD IN MONROE COUNTY AS YOU MENTIONED. TAKE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF LIVE PICTURES FROM SKY 4 THIS AFTERNOON. TRAFFIC JUST STARTED MOVING ABOUT AN HOUR AGO. THE NORTH BOUND LANES ARE STILL CLOSED BUT TWO OF THE SOUTHBOUND LANES ARE OPEN RIGHT NOW. YOU CAN SEE THOUGH, WHY THE NORTHBOUND LANES ARE STILL CLOSED. THE TRUCKS APPEAR TO BE BADLY BURNED. THEY LIKELY CAUGHT ON FIRE AS YOU CAN ASSUME THERE FROM ALL OF THE CHARRED MESS. DEBRIS AS YOU CAN ALSO SEE SCATTERED ALL ACROSS THE NORTHBOUND LANES OF I-75. TRAFFIC WAS STOPPED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR AND HALF IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. WE DID GET A CHANCE TO SPEAK WITH ONE DRIVER OF AN 18 WHEELER WHO GOT STUCK ON THE HIGHWAY AS FIRST RESPONDERS WORKED TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS AND FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. HE SPOKE TO US BY PHONE AS HE SAT ON I-75 JUST AS TRAFFIC STARTED MOVING AGAIN AND HE DESCRIBED WHAT HE SAW. IT'S SAD YOU NOW LOSE ONE OF OUR BROTHERS OUT HERE OUT ON THE VOTED. WE SAW THE SMOKE FROM A DISTANCE. CLOSER WE GOT IT GOT WORSE THEN WHEN THE FIRE TRUCK SHOWED UP WE SAW THE SMOKE CHANGING COLORS. THEN EVERYBODY CAME TO A DEAD STOP. WE SAT FOR SO LONG EVERYBODY STARTED GETTING OUT OF THEIR TRUCKS AND CONVERSING TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON. WHAT WAS GOING ON WAS ONE PERSON KILLED, AGAIN, AFTER TWO TRUCKS CRASHED ON I-75 AT DUNBAR ROAD IN MONROE COUNTY. NOW THAT DRIVER TOLD US THAT THE NORTHBOUND LANE DRIVERS WERE ACTUALLY REROUTED THEY WERE ALLOWED TO TURN AROUND AND GO ONTO THE SOUTHBOUND LANES. OF COURSE WE DO HAVE A CREW HEADED TO SCENE. WE'LL HAVE MUCH MORE FOR YOU COMING UP ON LOCAL 4 NEWS A BIT LATER THIS EVENING.

MONROE COUNTY -

Interstate 75 at Laplaisance Road in Monroe County is open again after crews cleaned up debris from a fatal semi-truck crash and fire.

The crash happened about 10 a.m. Wednesday near the Dunbar Road bridge. Michigan State Police troopers are at the crash scene. They confirm at least one person was killed in this fiery crash. Aerial video of the crash:

Buddy Miller is a truck driver who was stuck in the traffic jam created by this crash. Listen: Buddy Miller describes crash on I-75 in Monroe County

"You see the tail end of the semi, a bunch of police officers surrounding him. Lights are going off. Don't see anymore fire trucks. They kept coming back and forth. I think they were running out of water," he said.

At about 10:50 a.m. when Local 4 talked with him, Miller said he had been stuck in the traffic for about an hour or an hour and 1/2.

"We saw the smoke from a distance. The closer we got it got worse. When the fire truck showed up we saw the smoke changing colors," said Miller.

He drives an 18-wheeler and has been a trucker for 17 years. He said he heard what may have happened to the trucks over his CB radio.

"Somebody said over the CB that a trucker had hit the bridge and that another truck hit him. Then it was confirmed. I got a picture of it sent to my phone -- two semis," he said.

Miller said in crashes such as this, often times a car is to blame for putting the trucks in a bad position.

"That's not 100 percent. You know, he could have been not paying attention," he said. CHECK: Local 4 Traffic Maps





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