By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A horrific, chain-reaction traffic crash in the southend killed two in St. Joseph Thursday morning.
The St. Joseph Police Department reports a fully loaded semi tractor-trailer slammed into the rear of a pickup on the northbound I-229 offramp to U.S. Highway 36 shortly after nine o’clock Thursday morning. The crash forced the pickup into the back of a fully load dump truck, causing it to rear-end a commercial boom truck.
The department says the crash caused catastrophic damage to the pickup and killed a passenger riding in the front and a passenger riding in the rear. St. Joseph police identify the victims as Diana Ptomey and Joyce Ptomey. The driver, who had to be extricated from the pickup, suffered serious injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
St. Joseph police shut down I-229 north of East Lake Boulevard for hours while officers worked the accident.
St. Joseph received assistance from the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department as well as the Missouri Department of Transportation. The Missouri State Highway Patrol Commercial Motor Vehicle Division responded to the accident. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources responded, because fluids had spilled at the scene of the crash.