An emergency helicopter and a hazmat crew responded to a three-vehicle crash that forced the closure of southbound Interstate 25, south of Castle Rock, early this morning.
Colorado State Patrol Trooper Nate Reid said the crash happened around 4:57 a.m. at milepost 179.
Reid said a semi truck, hauling a dump truck bed, was parked on the right shoulder. The semi was wide, requiring a pilot vehicle, which was parked behind it at a spot where three lanes reduce into two lanes.
“A second semi hit the pilot car, pushing it into the semi,” Reid said.
A television news helicopter showed the mangled wreckage of the pilot car. The front of the second semi had been wedged under the dump truck bed and the front of the semi-trailer was pierced by the dump truck bed.
Andy Lyon, a spokesman for South Metro Fire Rescue, said their agency sent heavy rescue vehicles capable of “heavy duty extrication” to assist with the crash.
Reid said the driver of the semi who hit the pilot car had to be extricated and flown to Swedish Medical Center for treatment.
A passenger inside the parked pilot car was injured and taken to Sky Ridge Medical Center, according to Reid.
The names and extent of injuries of the victims were not immediately known.
The crash also triggered a diesel spill, which forced authorities to call in a hazmat team, Reid said. It wasn’t immediately known how much diesel spilled.
The southbound lanes of I-25 were closed for hours at milepost 181, the Plum Creek exit, and traffic was detoured along a frontage road on the west side of the interstate. One southbound lane of I-25 was reopened around 8 a.m. and all lanes were reopened around 10 a.m.
Dan Boniface: 303-954-1104 or dboniface@denverpost.com.
