LEROY TWP. — One person was injured in a two-semi crash on Interstate 96 Friday morning.
The two semis collided on westbound Interstate 96 near the 124-mile marker in Leroy Township, according to an Ingham County alert. Deputies were called to the crash at 4:52 a.m., said Sgt. Jeff Weiss of the Ingham County Sheriff's Office.
A semi hauling plastic products was on the shoulder of the highway with a flat tire when a second semi sideswiped it. The second semi was hauling watermelons and ended up on its side in the ditch, according to the alert.
No other vehicles were involved, but one driver was sent to Sparrow Hospital for evaluation with serious but non-life threatening injuries, Weiss said.
Workers clean up the scene of an accident Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, on westbound I-96 near exit 122 in Leroy Township. Around 4:50 AM, a semi carrying watermelons sideswiped a disabled semi stopped along the shoulder according to Ingham County Sheriff Department officials. The driver of the parked semi was taken to Sparrow with serious but non life-threatening injuries. (Photo: Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal)
Clean-up from the crash took hours since the watermelons needed to be removed from the trailer before the semi could be pulled upright. As of 11 a.m. Friday, crews had filled two 30-cubic yard dumpsters with watermelons.
Officials closed both lanes of I-96 westbound from Fowlerville to the 122 mile marker to upright and remove the semi at 11:20 a.m. Both lanes reopened by 12:50 p.m.
State Journal photographer Matthew Dae Smith contributed to this report. Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.
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