A man was seriously injured Friday morning when his pickup truck was involved in a crash with 2 18-wheelers near Buna, Texas. An 18-wheeler hauling logs was traveling on Country Road 721 when its driver stopped to turn left onto US Highway 96 to head north. While it was waiting in the crossover lane to turn left and go northbound, timber was sticking out of the back of the truck into the southbound lanes of Hwy 96.
John Ulmer Smith, from Brookeland, Texas, was driving south on 96 right as this happened, and drove underneath several of the extended logs. Directly next to him was a second 18-wheeler going in the same direction. This second 18-wheeler struck several of the logs that were jutting out of the first truck, and then subsequently struck Smith’s SUV.
Following the wreck Smith was sent to nearby St. Elizabeth’s hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries. Thankfully neither truck driver was injured. A photo of the damage to Smith’s SUV can be seen below.
The driver of the first truck carrying the logs, Christopher Cheatham, was given a citation by police for an illegal load to the rear of the truck.
