Two Serious Accidents On I-20 Near Palo Pinto/Parker County Line Keep First Responders Busy
The First Wreck Forced Traffic to Slow on the Interstate, Prompting Deadly Wreck A Few Hours Later
Friday night sometime after 6pm, a multi-vehicle wreck involving four semi-trucks and a car on Interstate 20 near the Parker/Palo Pinto County line involving four 18-wheelers and a passenger vehicle.
DPS Sgt. Richard Hunter said westbound traffic was moving slowly because of the crash that had happened earlier, just a few miles away.
Two 18-wheelers and the car had slowed down, but a third 18-wheeler failed to slow and struck the second 18-wheeler, causing it to hit the passenger vehicle. A fourth 18-wheeler then struck the vehicles ahead, causing a fire.
The driver of the third 18-wheeler died at the scene.
Another truck driver was transported to a Weatherford hospital, and the driver and passenger of the vehicle were transported to a hospital in Fort Worth. Comments made later by the passenger posted on a DFW Scanner Facebook Page, indicate she was treated for a broken femur and the driver had a broken nose.
According to the Facebook thread in which the passenger updates her injuries, you can also read about the eye witness accounts of several people running toward the fiery crash to help victims.
Traffic was at a standstill for hours, causing heavy back up in the area. Drivers on the highway behind the wreckage had nowhere to go forcing some to wait in their cars over 8 hours.
At 7:30pm on Friday evening, Jeff Petrel who runs the Palo Pinto Scanner Group said, “I-20 is a mess. Just Stay Away.”
Petrel’s group monitors and listens to Fire and EMS radio traffic in Palo Pinto County and had already notified the community of a wreck earlier in the day in the same vicinity just a few hours prior to the second one.
Parker County Sheriff’s Office gave an update around 6am on Saturday morning warning drivers to avoid the area.
I-20 west bound at the 391 mile marker has been shut down for the past several hours due to a fatality accident and fire. The fire has damaged the roadway and the Interstate is expected to remain closed for the next several hours. Please seek an alternate route if possible.
-PCSO
Then another update from the Sheriff was given around 1pm on Saturday.
One lane has been opened westbound. The other lane will remain closed for a few days while TxDot repairs the lane.
Parker County Sheriff’s Office
The First Crash
High School Football Team Charter Bus Crashes with FedEx Truck on I20
Earlier in the day, not too far from the fiery wreck scene, a Fed Ex Truck collided with a charter bus filled with high school students heading to a football game. Here is the press release from DPS:
PALO PINTO COUNTY – On December 9, 2022 at approximately 2 p. m., Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers investigated a two vehicle injury crash on Interstate 20 approximately three miles south of Santo.
Preliminary investigation indicates a Volvo truck-tractor that was towing a semi-trailer was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of IH-20 when it struck a Vantool charter passenger bus. The driver of the Volvo, 64 year old man, of Durant, Oklahoma, possibly suffered a medical condition which resulted in him traveling the wrong way. He was transported to Weatherford Regional Hospital. His condition is unknown.
The driver of the passenger bus, 41-year-old of Mansfield, was transported to John Peter Smith hospital in Fort Worth with undisclosed injuries.
There were thirty-two (32) passengers onboard the charter bus. The passengers were students, staff, and faculty from Gunter ISD who were traveling to Abilene for a playoff football game. None of the passengers were injured. A passenger in the Volvo, who was asleep in the sleeper north, was also uninjured.
