Traffic was flowing again on Interstate 80 Monday afternoon after a truck carrying cattle flipped on its side in the early morning hours.
The cows were headed to a slaughterhouse in New York, but several died as a result of the accident and blocked an eastbound lane for several hours. The scene was familiar as a semi crashed into a guardrail last week on the same stretch of the interstate and exploded.
About 4:30 Monday morning, Jimmy King, 42, of Botkins told state troopers he lost control of his tractor trailer about a mile west of the Hubbard-Sharon exit.
"Eventually all the cattle shifted to the left side of the trailer, which caused the trailer to overturn," said Lt. Brian Holt, commander of the Warren Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The 25 cows were contained inside the trailer after the crash, but several died on impact. The others were removed from the scene and continued on to New York.
Troopers said the animals were referred to as "junk cattle," or cows that can no longer be used for economic purposes by farmers.
"The owner of the cattle contacted some of his people locally. They did a great job. They came together and they were able to get the cows off of there," Holt said.
The driver walked away with minor injuries. He will be cited for failure to control his vehicle.
Six days earlier, troopers were on scene of another accident in the same area of I-80. In that instance, the driver also walked away unharmed and troopers will not file charges against Robert Weirick, 58, of Youngstown. Troopers said heavy braking at the time of the crash support Weirick's story that another vehicle cut him off, which caused the accident.
"The first one we've determined there's a possibility there's another vehicle involved which we call a non-contact vehicle, essentially cut off that truck driver," Holt said.
After the two separate accidents, troopers at the Warren post in Southington said they will be taking a look at that stretch of I-80 to see if there's anything they can do to improve safety.
"Is there more we can be doing out there to make traffic on the interstate more aware," Holt said.
ODOT officials also said they're considering a study to see if they can widen Interstate 80 from the Meander Reservoir to the Pennsylvania line.
