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The Wilson Times

Crashed trucks snarl US 264

By By Drew C. Wilson,

2022-06-30
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North Carolina Highway Patrol troopers and other first responders investigate a collision between two trucks Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 264.
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A box truck carrying furniture struck another truck Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 264, ripping it apart and spilling furniture onto the road and shoulder.

Traffic along U.S. 264 west of Wilson was interrupted Wednesday afternoon when a box truck carrying furniture struck the back of a tractor-trailer.

The wreck happened near mile marker 37 and north of the U.S. 264-Interstate 95 interchange around 3 p.m.

Chief Scott Matthews of the Contentnea Volunteer Fire Department said the two trucks collided in the westbound lane.

“I’m not sure exactly what happened, but one of the other trucks traveling westbound ran into the back of the other one and pretty much ripped the side of the other truck open,” Matthews said. “At that point, we lost a bunch of furniture (and) scattered some furniture along the road.”

A Freightliner 22-foot Penske Truck Rental box truck was hauling the trailer ripped open in the crash.

“There’s couches, chairs, end tables, beds, bed frames,” Matthews said. “It looked like it was going to a furniture store somewhere.”

Many items were dislodged from furniture boxes bearing the name Furniture of America.

“There was a little bit in that No. 2 lane, and a lot of it is down off the embankment,” Matthews said.

One lane of U.S. 264 West was shut down while first responders and wrecker crews cleaned up the debris. Workers maintained one open lane of travel for westbound drivers on the four-lane-divided highway.

“It pretty much ripped the whole side and top off the first box truck,” Matthews said, adding that he wasn’t aware of any injuries.

Matthews said three engines, a tanker and a brush truck responded with 14 firefighters from the department.

While Wilson County EMS personnel evaluated the drivers, firefighters checked the vehicles to make sure no hazardous materials were on board and no fluids were leaking.

“We immediately went to shutting down and to putting some cones out to move this traffic over to slow it down, trying to maintain scene safety,” Matthews said.

The larger rig struck from the rear was a Kenworth cab with a full-size 53-foot trailer.

“That was was pretty much empty except for some pallets and storage racks,” Matthews said.

The N.C. Department of Transportation brought a backhoe to finish tearing apart the damaged trailer so the trucks could be loaded onto wreckers.

Mangum’s Transport and Heavy Haul responded to carry the trucks off.

“They can’t take them down the road the way they are. They have got to pile them up,” Matthews said.

State troopers are investigating the crash. A report from the N.C. Highway Patrol wasn’t available

A North Carolina Highway Patrol report on the wreck was not available in time for this story.

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