Semi driver hurt after rig hits vehicles then overturns on I-75

2/9/2014

A Detroit-area truck driver was injured Friday night when his tractor-trailer struck a tow truck and a disabled car along I-75 in southern Monroe County, then left the road and overturned.

Daniel D. Lemley, 52, of New Boston, Mich., was taken to University of Toledo Medical Center after the 11 p.m. crash just south of the Summit Street exit on southbound I-75 in Erie Township. Deputies said he was in critical condition after the crash, although by Saturday evening, a spokesman for the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital said he had improved to good condition.

According to the report, a tow truck belonging to Star Towing and a private automobile were stopped on the right shoulder when Mr. Lemley’s truck, hauling tandem box trailers, entered the shoulder and struck the tow truck and then the auto. The semi then veered off the road’s west side, rotated clockwise, and overturned in deep snow.

Neither tow-truck driver Robert J. Bayer, 54, of Monroe nor the car's two occupants — Valeria Berry, 50, and Christal Berry, 15, both of Detroit — were injured. Southbound I-75 was closed for about two hours after the crash.

Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, which remained under investigation Saturday, deputies said.