SUGAR LAND, Texas – Two drivers are expected to be OK after a major crash caused delays along the Southwest Freeway on Monday.
What happened
Capt. Stuart Denton with the Sugar Land Police Department said around 3:55 p.m., the department received a call for an accident on U.S. 59 on the southbound lanes near Dairy Ashford Road.
“Through investigation, we determined that an 18-wheeler was traveling southbound in the main lane, made an inappropriate lane change to his right, which forced the car next to him to fall over the outside pillar wall," Denton said.
Denton said the car flew over the concrete barrier and flipped on its side. The semitrailer also went over the concrete wall.
“When the truck flipped over initially, the diesel and saddlebag gas tanks were leaking. That has been contained by the Sugar Land Fire Department,” Denton said. “TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) has sent their cleanup hazmat crew out here; that’s who you see now and they will also be assisting us as this incident continues.”
They were able to open several lanes of the highway during rush hour traffic, but would later have to close it down to remove the semitrailer.
“One of the delays is going to be clearing this accident ... we’re going to have to offload the cargo of the truck, which is small plastic pellets ... you can see coming out the top,” Denton said.
Little plastic pellets were seeping out of the top of the truck from when it crashed. As of 9:43 p.m., crews were still working to remove the load.
“Fortunately, there were no injuries in this accident,” Denton said.
Good Samaritan
Kelvin Ramirez and his wife were driving on the feeder of the Southwest Freeway when they said they heard a loud noise.
“I saw a cloud of smoke, it was more of dirt and we started pulling over a little bit closer to it and we saw the car that was flipped over and we were, like, ‘Man what just happened?’ You know?” Ramirez said.
He and several other good Samaritans stopped and got out to see if anyone was in need of help.
“When we were walking, me and this other guy, the other guy started screaming, ‘Anyone there?' And she was, like, ‘Help, help!” so that’s when we ran towards the car,” Ramirez said.
He said she was strapped into the car with her seat belt still on.
“I was, like, ‘Are you OK? And she was, like, ‘Yeah, I’m OK, just please get me out of here,'” Ramirez said.
That’s when he started to take off her seat belt.
He and several others carried her out of a window to safety.
“She was very lucky,” Ramirez said.
Police said she didn’t have major injuries, but Ramirez said she had cuts on her face and arms from the broken glass.
“She was, like, ‘The truck hit me, the truck hit me, he came from the side and hit me,'” Ramirez said.
He said he’s no hero and would hope someone would do the same for him or one of his family members.
“That’s how all humans should be. If we see someone that needs help, we should always be there,” he said.