INDIANAPOLIS — A semi-truck driver from Cambridge City died in a crash Sunday morning that closed the ramp from Shadeland Avenue to westbound Interstate 70 on the east side of Indianapolis for the majority of the day.
Dispatchers first started receiving 911 calls at around 8:40 a.m. about a semi-truck that left the north side of the highway and came to rest down an embankment.
An INDOT Hoosier Helper was the first on the scene and told dispatchers that the driver of the semi was pinned under the semi and was unresponsive.
Troopers tried, but were unable to get to the man pinned under the wreckage. A large tow truck helped firefighters get the man free. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Troopers investigating the crash later identified 70-year-old Billy Ray Ervin Jr. as the driver. They said he was driving the semi truck west on I-70 when he drove off the roadway, struck a concrete barrier wall then the truck went into a ditch and overturned.
Investigators are not sure what caused him to drive off the road and said there were no skid marks to indicate braking.
Two lanes of I-70 westbound were blocked for several hours while the crash was investigated. There were no other vehicles involved in the crash and no other occupants inside the semi.