Truck driver killed in I-35 crash

Associated Press

PURCELL, Okla. -- A Nebraska truck driver was killed Wednesday in a collision that closed northbound Interstate 35 for hours.

Billy Lawson,63, was killed about 3:12 p.m. when his tractor-trailer rig slammed into a freightliner that had slowed along with other vehicles near Purcell in McClain County.

The Deshler, Ne., resident tried to avoid the truck in front of him but couldn't. After hitting the semi, the truck continued north and hit another tractor-trailer before stopping in a ditch.

The impact threw him from the truck and he was run over by his vehicle.

A 12-year-old passenger in the truck, Ted Degner, was treated for minor injuries and released. The other drivers weren't hurt.

Northbound lanes of the highway remained closed until about 8:10 p.m. Traffic was diverted through Purcell and back onto the highway farther north.

There have been at least three other fatal accidents in that area in the past two years, including one June 7 that killed a 30-year-old Oklahoma City woman.