Jackknifed semi backs up traffic on interstate

A trucker backing up his rig on Interstate 65 jackknifed, bringing northbound traffic to a stop at the 57-mile marker north of Seymour.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Donald Gregory said the Seymour Post received a 911 call at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday reporting a suspected crash.

But troopers responding to the scene found traffic had come to a complete stop and was already backed up for several miles. When finally arriving at the scene it was quickly determined that a crash was not what had stopped the flow of traffic.

Troopers talked to the driver, Roman Khablyuk, 31, of Wisconsin, who spoke little English, and determined that Khablyuk had driven his Red 2002 Freightliner onto the emergency lane because of a loss of air pressure.

Khablyuk then backed his trailer south on the northbound emergency lane until he had jack-knifed his trailer across both northbound lanes and backed completely off the east side of the interstate.

He was unable to move at that point, Gregory said.
Traffic was routed north on Indiana 11 for about 90 minutes until a wrecker was able to make it to the scene and pull the semi out.

Senior Trooper Jason Duncan placed the driver out of service for a log book violation. The semi tractor belonging to Red Line Express Inc. out of Algonquin, Ill., and trailer were impounded pending a full inspection by a commercial motor carrier inspector.

"When traffic unexpectedly stops on the interstate, it does not take long for it to back up creating a dangerous situation," Gregory said. "Fortunately in this case a serious crash was avoided by some quick-thinking drivers."