ARLINGTON, Texas — A truck driver died Friday night in a crash along U.S. 287 involving three 18-wheelers and two SUVs, Arlington police said Saturday.
The Arlington Police Department (APD) said the crash happened at approximately 10:21 p.m. Friday in the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 287 near Sublett Road. A total of five vehicles – three 18-wheelers, a 2016 Land Rover, and a 2015 Toyota Rav 4 – were involved in the wreck, APD said.
APD said investigators believe prior to the crash, traffic in the northbound lanes had come to a near or complete stop due to ongoing road construction in the area; and as one of the 18-wheelers approached that stretch of highway, the driver did not slow down accordingly, colliding with the back end of another 18-wheeler.
This caused a chain reaction crash, according to APD, where the second 18-wheeler collided with the Land Rover, which collided with the Rav 4, which collided with the third 18-wheeler.
The 18-wheeler driver who caused the wreck, an unidentified man, died at the scene, APD said. The man did not have any identification on him, according to police.
The drivers of the other two 18-wheelers, as well as the driver and a passenger in the Land Rover, were transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, APD said. The driver of the Rav 4 was treated and released at the scene.
The identity of the truck driver who died will be released after he's been positively identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and next of kin has been notified.
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