WALTON, Ky. -- Eight people were injured after two charter buses and a semitrailer crashed on northbound Interstate 71 just south of the split with Interstate 75, according to Boone County dispatchers.
#Breaking: this is the scene on I-71 NB just past the Walton exit. Two buses crashed with a semi. 8 people injured per Boone Co dispatch @WCPO pic.twitter.com/oBLuniU0G0
— T.J. Parker (@TJParkerWCPO) January 4, 2018
A Greyhound bus en route to Cincinnati from Nashville encountered mechanical issues and stopped along the highway to wait for a second bus to carry its 41 passengers on to their destination, according to a Greyhound spokesperson.
At about 5:25 a.m. Thursday, just moments after Greyhound officials contacted Boone County police requesting assistance as they transferred passengers between buses, both buses got sideswiped by trucker Ernest Brooks, 40, of Childserburg, Alabama, according to Major Tom Scheben of the Boone County Sheriff's Office.
Three ambulances carried the eight injured passengers to St. Elizabeth in Florence, Boone County dispatchers said, but information on the severity of their injuries was not immediately available.
First responders closed the highway immediately, but were able to begin reopening lanes by 7 a.m. Stopped traffic caused a secondary crash when Desmond Anderson, 38, of Louisville, swerved and struck a stopped tanker truck, another semitrailer and a van. Anderson was hauling plate glass, which shattered all over the highway.
The Kentucky State Highway Department swept up an entire pickup truck load of broken glass off of I-71.
